Through Your Eyes
by Annzy Bananzy
Summary: If you want a fluffy, Thiefshipping one-shot, then you've come to the right place. If you want a slightly complicated short story about seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, keep reading. Fem!Marik and Fem!Ryou. High School AU. Full Summary Inside.
1. Summer Sunsets

**One-Shot Summary**: Two friends talk about life and other things and share a sweet moment in their meadow at sunset during the summer. Cute~. (Thiefshipping. Genderbended Marik. AU.)

**Short Story Summary**: Bakura and Marik used to be the best of friends, who were looking forward to becoming something more. Then, high school came, and Bakura turned rotten for various reasons. Now, they're bitter enemies, and Bakura's always tormenting the girl who he used to love. Will anything be able to change this relationship-gone-wrong? Will seeing things through Marik's eyes help Bakura realize that what his actions do affect others, and that he still loves Marik? (Thiefshipping, Genderbended Marik and Ryou. High School AU. OCs.)

**A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this, whether you're here for the one-shot or the story! (It works for either way you wanna read it. At least, I think it does O.o).**

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_**Chapter 1: Summer Sunsets**_

"That cloud looks just like your hair," Marik said, pointing up at the sky. "White, fluffy, pointy – OW!" she turned to him angrily when he bonked her on the head. "What was that for?-!"

They were in their special place; a little meadow a little ways behind Marik's house. They were lying down by their favorite weeping willow tree, but far enough away so that the branches wouldn't block their view of the sky. Flowers in full bloom were all around them, and the sun was close to setting on the teenagers.

"I told you, my hair is _not_ fluffy!" Bakura responded with his trademarked smirk. No, really, it was trademarked. Between them at least; Marik drew the smirk on a piece of paper once and drew that little "®" symbol next to it and proclaimed to him, "There! Now no one can steal your signature smirk. And if they do, we can sue 'em!" Bakura just laughed at that and ripped up the paper, throwing it into the air. "Oh please, like anyone other than me could pull this off anyways."

Currently though, Marik just pouted at him. "Come on, just _look_ at your hair! It's totally fluffy and puffy and C-U-T-E~!" she said as she grabbed some and bounced it around, laughing. Bakura rolled his eyes and took a lock of Marik's straight blonde hair, lifting it up and playing with it. This stopped her right away; she tore her hair out of his grip, blushing a bit. "Don't do that!" she hissed at him.

Bakura chuckled. "You were doing the same to my hair not two seconds ago." He turned his attention back to the sky then, knowing full-well that Marik was right. His hair was pure white and impossibly _fluffy_, which he hated. Extremely. But what could he do? It was his genetic makeup's fault anyway.

He turned on his left to look at Marik better, who just turned her head slightly to show that she was paying attention to him. Bakura smiled at her, looking at her purple tank top with a red ruffled skirt and noticing the way her golden hair was sprawled about on the grass… She looked absolutely beautiful, especially when a light blush came upon her face again and she turned her straight again, embarrassed. "Don't just stare at me!" she complained. "Actually say something, you pervert!"

Bakura laughed and stood up. "Sorry, I was just thinking that maybe we should go to the beach soon."

Marik hesitated for a little bit before sitting up and looking at him again, curiously. "What made you think of that?"

Marik knew she had walked right into a trap when Bakura smirked. "The thought of you in a bikini," he said slyly, his British accent sending shivers down Marik's spine.

She blushed, bringing her knees up and hiding her face in them. "… You know why I can't…" she said weakly.

Bakura sighed and rubbed the back of his head. Yes, he knew about the scars her father had carved into her back when she was ten… Her dad had always blamed Marik for "killing her mother," since she died giving birth to Marik. Of course, one night he came home dead drunk and wanting revenge, and who better than the ten-year-old who killed her? The very thought of it filled Bakura with rage, but it's not like a fourteen-year-old could do much now; they were two years older and the father was securely locked away in a mental rehabilitation center, leaving Marik's older brother in charge. "Yeah, I know, but come on! People would just think it was a tattoo –"

"_Please,_ 'Kura," Marik interrupted sadly. "Like _anyone_ would believe a twelve year old has a tattoo."

Bakura shrugged. "I still say you should go for it."

"… There's, another reason why I don't… wear a bikini," Marik muttered under her breath, avoiding what little eye contact she had maintained with Bakura.

Bakura raised an eyebrow and bent down a little to look at her better. "Really? What's that?"

Marik turned her head away as she said, "I'm, not exactly, the… _biggest_, girl, on the block…"

Bakura stared at Marik for a second before a smile wormed its way onto his face and he burst into laughter, rolling back on the ground and covering his stomach from laughing so hard. Marik turned to him with daggers in her eyes and a blush still evident on her well-tanned face. "Don't you dare laugh at me!-!" she yelled at him, pulling his hair.

Bakura stopped laughing when his hair was pulled, but he still smirked up at her. "I'm sorry, it's just… I didn't think you cared about that sort of thing, Marik!"

Marik put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?-!"

Bakura laughed again, looking back up at the clouds. "Well, you've already got a few male suitors, so I didn't think you'd worry about your, your," Bakura couldn't help but snicker before saying this next word, "_size_."

Marik blushed more as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her gaze away from her best friend. "I don't have any male suitors, stop saying that already. Isis says I'm too young for that stuff anyways."

"Oh, what does your sister know?" Bakura said, waving that comment off. "She hasn't had a date in her _life_, and she's seventeen!"

Marik glared at Bakura. "She was kind of busy with our father and taking care of me, Bakura. Remember?"

Bakura sighed and sat back up. "Yes, I know…" Bakura smirked again, wanting to joke around some more. "Although, I think _her_ size has something to do with that too."

Marik smacked him in the back of the head. "That's my sister, you pervert!-!"

Bakura just smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. Pretty soon, he was going to get a concussion from this girl. He was sure of it. However, even though he knew this wouldn't be in his best interest, he leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, "If it makes you feel any better, I'll show you my small package."

Marik's entire face turned red as she stared at him. "B-Bakura!-!" was all she could exclaim.

Bakura laughed. "I was talking about through my underwear, duh. What were you thinking?" Bakura raised an eyebrow, smirking at her.

Marik glared and took a swing at him, but he dodged just in time. "What would _anyone_ think from that statement?-!"

"It's not like it would matter anyways," Bakura said, leaning in close again to whisper, "after all, apparently we used to take baths together."

"When we were like, three!" Marik said, blushing even more. She felt hot all over now, and she had no idea how to protect herself from all this embarrassment.

Bakura laughed. "And what's changed since we were three years old?"

Marik narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not even going to _answer_ that stupid question."

Bakura chuckled, looking up at the sky again. "I wouldn't worry about size too much anyways," he said, actually being serious now. "Most girls develop later on, don't they?"

"Most girls hit puberty at age ten or eleven," Marik mumbled. "At least, according to our health book. Boys are the ones who develop at twelve or thirteen."

"When do we end?"

"For girls it's fifteen to sixteen –"

"See? You have time," Bakura interrupted, smiling.

Marik pouted at him. "And boys finish around sixteen or eighteen," she finished, choosing not to respond to Bakura's last comment.

"What worries me is that you know that by heart," Bakura teased. "Knowing the facts is not going to make it happen anytime sooner you know."

"I know that!" Marik said, glaring at him. "It's just… it helps, I guess."

Bakura shrugged and then just continued smiling at her, knowing she'd tell him to look away eventually.

Surprisingly, Marik kept glancing at him and then averted her attention to the sky. She did this about five or six times, fidgeting after each glance until she turned and stared back at him. "Stop staring at me already. Per –"

"Pervert," Bakura finished. "I know," he smirked, scooting closer to her. He could see and almost _feel_ her tense up. "You know, you might want to stop calling me that."

"Why?" she asked, now looking directly into his eyes. "It suits you."

"Because," he said, slowly moving his face closer to hers. Marik's eyes widened and she kept bending down to avoid him, but soon she couldn't bend anymore and she did a sort of crabwalk backwards to get away from him. Bakura almost fell over laughing from the sight, but he held it together and crawled towards her. Eventually, she hit their willow tree, and her face paled before blushing bright red as he crawled over her. Their bodies weren't actually touching, but he was just _there_, hovering over her, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it… "I just might turn into one~," Bakura purred, making her close her eyes. Though, she wished she hadn't done that when she felt Bakura's fingers brush up her waist. She let out a little squeak of surprise before kicking him back.

"GET THE HELL _OFF!-!_" she yelled as he fell on his back. He got the wind knocked out of him when he landed, so he was left gasping for breath, and Marik coming up and resting her foot securely on his stomach didn't help matters. "Pervert!" she yelled at him, not caring that he was struggling for his breath at this point.

Bakura could only roll his eyes, not being able to talk at this moment. They stayed like this for awhile, the sun dangerously close to the edge now. They both knew they'd have to go home soon. Eventually, Bakura felt normal again, and then he noticed something. He lifted up Marik's skirt and said, "You wear shorts under here?-!" He was completely shocked; he had always thought the point of skirts was so that girls didn't _have_ to wear pants or shorts.

Marik blushed, wrenched her skirt from his grasp and pulled it down tightly, stepping off of him. "Yes!-!" she yelled at him as if it was completely obvious. "It's to protect myself from _perverts_ like you!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "But what's the point of wearing both? Why not just wear shorts then?"

Marik sighed. "I already look too male, I don't need pants to help with that."

"Why do you care so much about being female anyways?" Bakura asked, standing up and brushing himself off. "If I were you, I'd slap on some jeans and a T-shirt and trick people into thinking I was a boy!"

Marik sighed. "I don't know…" she smirked at him. "I guess I just wanna be girly around such a big _strong_ man," she said, putting her back to him and wrapping his arm around her waist. She turned her head to look at him, happy that she _finally_ got this pervert to blush! "Maybe I just wanna be protected," she purred.

Bakura stared at her for a second before picking her up bridal style, much to her displeasure. "Put me _down,_ Bakura!" she said, glaring at him and trying to push him away.

"I thought you wanted to be female?" he replied with a smirk, keeping his hold on her.

Marik groaned and lay limply in his arms. "_Not_ funny, Bakura," she said. "You know what I meant."

Bakura rolled his eyes and set her back on the ground, but when he did, she attacked him with a hug. "How much trouble do you think we'd get in if we didn't come back right after sunset?" she asked, staring at the steadily falling sun. The sun was at that height where it produced the most magnificent purples, pinks, yellows, and blues that Marik had ever seen; they wrapped around her like a child's security blanket, making everything else seem dull in comparison. Well, except for the other person in the meadow. She smiled and closed her eyes at the thought, feeling very warm when Bakura hugged her back.

"Probably a lot," Bakura replied, "but that's the fun of it, no?" He chuckled before letting go and walking backwards a few steps. "Unless you're scared and wanna go back early~?" he dared.

Marik shook her head. "No way, José!" She turned her back on him, knowing that he'd come next to her and do _something_; he didn't like being ignored.

She was right; Bakura crept up on her and blew hot breath down her neck. "Ack!" she exclaimed, putting a hand to her neck and turning with an unbelieving smile. "Why the hell did you do _that?_" It was obvious that she wasn't expecting that, but she wasn't frowning or glaring, so Bakura took that to mean that it just felt weird; maybe that she even liked it.

"Oh, no reason," Bakura said, his hands behind his back and his eyes looking up at the sky while his mouth fought a smile.

Marik shook her head, but then her eyes widened as she turned to the sunset. "Shhhh! The show's starting!" she said, putting a finger to his mouth and staring at the sun avidly. Bakura just rolled his eyes and gently bit her finger, making her let out another squeak of surprise as she tore her finger away and glared at him before turning back to her glorious sunset, that impossibly happy smile on her face. Bakura _had_ to smile at the sight before he turned to watch it with her.

As the sun declined, the colors all around it changed and moved. It looked like the day was following the sun, "Wait up, Sun! I'll come with you to the next part of the world, you need your day!" The colors turned richer, darker, soon the yellow disappearing altogether, the prominent color being a pink magenta. And as the colors around the sun changed, so did the colors everywhere else in the sky. A dark blue slowly moved in from the other side of the horizon to the thin blue ribbon of day that was right before the richer, sunny colors. Night was coming in to take over the day, or maybe it was trying to follow the sun too, and was just not as fast as the day? "Wait up for me, sun!" or "I'll watch this part of the earth for awhile, sun!" It was most likely the latter, because the night had the moon, even if it _is_ just a reflection of the sun's rays.

Either way, the colors morphed and shifted in the sky, causing delight to all those privileged enough to witness it, especially Marik. Soon, the deep sunset colors descended over the horizon, and Marik knew that somewhere, someone was enjoying a beautiful sunrise. She turned to look up at the dark night that had taken it's place, already being able to see the moon and even a few stars. "Okay," Marik said, "let's go h-" she stopped speaking when she felt Bakura grab both of her wrists and turn her towards him. She stared at him, his hair practically glowing in the halo of night. She could see him swallow nervously, and all she could wonder was, "_What's he going to do now?_"

She soon guessed it when he started leaning in. She just stood there, frozen for the time being, wondering if maybe, this time, she'd let him…

Bakura could actually feel his heartbeat, and it was moving just a bit faster than normal… _Will she let me kiss her?_ he wondered as the distance between them became slimmer and slimmer…

They both closed their eyes when they felt lip contact, but it only lasted for a second before they both pulled away, blushing madly. They took a step back from each other and looked away, Marik covering her mouth and Bakura fiddling with his fingers.

Silence stretched out across them, switching from awkward to serene as often as it wanted. Why couldn't the silence make up its mind?

Eventually, Bakura coughed, ridding the wishy-washy silence. "So, um…" he began, rubbing the back of his head, "We should… Go, now…" He felt like slapping himself; that was _so_ lame. Much to his surprise, however, Marik grabbed his hand again, and when he turned to her, she kissed his cheek. Bakura blushed slightly as she gently pulled him forward. "Come on!" she said, smiling. "We have to get home!"

Bakura stumbled after her, dazed for a second, but he quickly righted himself and ran next to her.

The two ran through the night hand in hand, almost as if they were following the day and chasing after the sun themselves. They smiled at each other, thankful for these wonderful summer nights, and when Bakura dropped Marik off at her house, they kissed again, this one just a little longer than the first.

They both had happy dreams that night, which of course included the breathtaking sunset and the happy moments shared there.

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**Heehee, hope you all enjoyed~ ^^ I had fun writing it :3**

**Now, if you came here for the one-shot, then you're done! Congratulations! You may now read something else! But if you came here for the story, then sit tight; the next update will be next week =) Maybe earlier if I get ten reviews~ (hint hint).**

**LET THE READING GAMES BEGIN.**


	2. Pathetic

Okay, so, here is the next installment! FYI: Yami Marik's name in this story will be Kilam because it's Malik backwards and if I used the name "Malik" I'd get horribly confused, so if you hate, you hate! And, another thing, this is a little different from my usual writing style (I think), so BE WARNED.

I'd also like to thank Aqua girl 007, anime-on-replay, xXFlorence4everXx, wolfairer, and Kitty Whompits McJagger II for reviewing! Your reviews were like chocolate-covered toffee to me, and I go nuts over toffee and chocolate, so THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH~

And now, I hope you enjoy the next installment of the story! =)

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_**Chapter 2: Pathetic**_

"Give me my algebra book back!" Marik yelled at her worst enemy, the ever-British Bakura.

"Why don't you take it from me, _boy?_" Bakura responded, smirking as he held the text book away from Marik while holding her back by her head with his other hand.

Marik huffed and stepped back so his hand wasn't on her anymore. She glared at him and crossed her arms. "I'm not a boy, for the last time!" she started grinding her teeth as she said this next part, "Now give me the book before I have to hurt you."

Bakura laughed and tossed her the book. "That's cute, Marik," he said before walking away, smirking and high-fiving his other 12-grade friends. He didn't notice when Marik wiped her eyes quickly before heading off to class, not when his friends were congratulating him and saying how good it was to put people in their place.

"Hey Bakura," one of his friends, Trevor, said, "Do you think we should skip today?"

"You can, but I'm not going to," Bakura said, leaning against a locker and crossing his arms. "Me and Kilam made a bet to see who could last going to school the longest without skipping."

One of the others whistled. "Damn, good luck with that."

"Yeah," Trevor said before he and the other two started walking away, "Good luck!"

"Thanks, TV!" Bakura said with a smirk.

Trevor turned to him, glared, and flipped him off before continuing to walk. Bakura chuckled; Trevor was called TV because he had insomnia and couldn't sleep, so he watches TV instead and knows pretty much every show on the air. If anyone wants to know _anything_ about a TV show, they go to Trevor, but he hates being called TV because it reminds him of his insomnia. Even so, almost everyone called him that; he used to beat up the people who did that, but then he realized there was no point anymore.

Bakura turned to go to his first class and came face-to-face with the blond-haired "heartthrob," Kilam. "Oh, hey, what's up?" Bakura smirked again, "Here to say you're quitting the bet already? It hasn't even gone on for –"

"Why do you pick on that girl?" he interrupted. "She's never done anything. At least, nothing I know of."

Bakura looked up at Kilam, wondering again how it is that Kilam and Marik could look so alike. They both had long, spiky, platinum-blonde hair, Kilam's being just a little bit more spiky 'cause he used a _lot_ of hair gel. They were both Egyptian and had the same tanned skin-tone. The two of them wore that dark kohl around their eyes as well as gold earrings, bracelets, and a choker, Marik's looking just a little bit more feminine on her. It was actually scary how much they looked alike.

"'Cause she's pathetic," Bakura said with a shrug, repeating what his friends had been saying since he was a freshman.

"How?" Kilam asked genuinely, tilting his head to the side.

Bakura sighed. "She, she just _is_," Bakura said lamely, enunciating with his hands. "She looks like a dude, for crying out loud; she looks just like _you_."

"One could just as easily say I look like her," Kilam said, thinking, "so doesn't that mean that I look feminine?"

"Trust me, you don't have a feminine bone in your body," Bakura sad honestly, staring kind of jealously at his muscular figure. He himself actually looked kind of feminine; he was extremely skinny no matter how much he ate, his skin was pale, and his hair was long, white, and spiky. He had tried cutting his hair once to make it look more boyish, but short hair looks absolutely _horrid_ on him, so he's forced to grow it out and complete his unwanted shemale look. It was a good thing he was popular or else he'd be an outcast, probably forced to hang out with the fags.

Kilam shrugged dully. Bakura winced a little at him; he had always felt bad for Kilam ever since he found out he had to take heavy meds to help some sort of mental problem he had. The medication might help whatever problem he had, but they also left him practically emotionless and it always freaked Bakura out. He had always loved knowing exactly what he was feeling so that he knew what he wanted, so the fact that someone could barely feel anything at all? It kind of scared him, but somehow he had turned that fear into pity.

"Are you sure you can't _not_ take your meds?" Bakura asked for abut the millionth time, knowing the answer would be the same.

"I can't," he repeated monotonously like always. "At least, not during the school year. Too many chances."

"Can you tell me what your problem is yet?"

Kilam creased his eyebrows, his eyes glazing over like they did whenever he started talking about his meds. "No…" he said simply, never offering an explanation as to why.

Bakura sighed, but then Kilam said, "It's an anger problem." Bakura looked at him eagerly, hoping for more, but then he said, "That's all I can tell you."

Bakura felt a little annoyed at such little information, but at least now he had an idea. He must have a pretty sever anger problem if the meds left him this emotionally deprived. "Well, anyways, let's head off to class," Bakura said, turning around.

Kilam grabbed his wrist before he could walk off. "I expect an actual answer to my question later on," he said.

Bakura sighed. "Yeah yeah, whatever." He tore his hand out of the Egyptian's grasp and then stalked off to his class.

* * *

"If everyone will please turn their books to page 20 and turn in their homework –" the teacher began, soon being tuned out by almost everyone in the class.

_Why _is_ Marik pathetic?_ Bakura asked himself while he was supposed to be paying attention to the English teacher. _That's_ _what they always said..._

He still remembered the first day of high school; he was just a little freshman, going into a big new world. He was actually extremely happy that day, 'cause Marik had hugged him earlier that morning and pronounced happily, "Guess what! My sister said I can date when I'm a freshman!" Bakura was ecstatic at this news; Marik was in seventh grade right now, which meant a two year wait, but at least he had something to look forward to as a Junior! N-not that he had been waiting to date Marik for a long, long, _long_ time… Nooo… Definitely not. Only the past, you know, three years or so, give or take a few months… Heheh, not a long time…

His first day of freshman year was turning out great, what with Marik's news and meeting new people and making friends. In fact, his first _week_ was great; he had managed to score some good, possibly life-long friends who shared his love for mischief and rule-breaking and he also understood all that his teachers were talking about.

But then, his friends started talking about a certain subject… the "girlfriend" subject.

"My mom won't even let me _date_," Trevor said. He hadn't received his nickname of TV yet, which, now that Bakura thought about it, might have been part of the reason he turned violent.

"My parents said that they'll just let whatever happens, happen," another, Glen, said. "As long as there's not a problem nine months later."

"What about you, Bakura?" the last one, Duke, said. "Where do you stand on the dating front?"

Bakura smiled wistfully. "I've got my eye on a very, _special_ girl."

"Ooooh," Trevor said teasingly, "'Kura's got a girlfriend~!"

"Don't call me 'Kura," Bakura said, frowning.

"Why?" Glen asked, smirking, "Is that what _she_ calls you?"

Bakura looked down, a light blush on his face. "Maybe…"

The other three boys laughed. "Dang, you've got it _bad_ Bakura!" Duke said, laughing. "Who is this girl anyways?"

Bakura smiled slightly. "Marik," he said happily.

The other three thought about this for a second. "Never heard of her," Glen said.

"Wait, is she that really tan chick?" Trevor asked.

"Yeah," Bakura said, smiling.

"Isn't she in seventh grade?" Duke asked, creasing his eyebrows.

"Yes, why?"

The other three shared a look before saying, "Nothing," in unison.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Come on guys, tell me."

"It's just that… a freshman, crushing on a sevvy?" Trevor said, using the demeaning term for seventh graders, "it's kind of lame, bro."

"It is?" Bakura asked, completely unaware of this fact.

"Yeah," Duke joined in. "Not to mention the fact that Marik isn't really a "ten" in regards to femininity."

"She'll grow out –" Bakura tried to defend her.

"And don't forget how much of a prude she is," Glen said. "I gave her a nice compliment, and she accused me of being a pervert!"

Bakura had to refrain from chuckling; that _definitely_ sounded like Marik. And, he hated to admit it but, Glen _did_ look like a pervert, what with his messy blonde hair, wide eyes, and barely-there mustache.

"Yeah, your dreams of kissing or _anything_ with that girl are slim to none," Trevor agreed, nodding.

Bakura knew that was true, but honestly, that would just make every kiss he _did_ get even more satisfying. And did these guys only think that he liked Marik because of her looks? There was so much more to her than that…

"No," Duke said, shaking his head, "You can't like someone as pathetic as her."

"How is she pathetic?" Bakura questioned, confused.

"Because," Duke began, "she's female, and yet she has to try _so hard_ not to look like a guy. There are some girls who would look just as girly in jeans as in a skirt, but if that girl put on a pair of any pants, she'd look like a boy."

"And she wears a ton of makeup," Gale added. Bakura guessed from his tone that Gale must have commented on her pretty face to earn that "pervert" comment. And the makeup thing wasn't exactly fair, since Egyptians generally wore thick kohl around their eyes, and that was _all_ she wore.

"Not to mention that she acts all tough," Trevor finished. "Girls like that piss me off; there's no way _she_ could hurt _anyone_."

_Actually, she'd only hurt if she had good reason to_, Bakura thought to himself. Marik knew what it was like to be innocent and be hurt, so she didn't want to hurt anyone if she didn't have to. Marik was actually a black-belt in karate, and had forced Bakura to let her practice on him numerous times to get to such a high-level belt, so Bakura knew what she was capable of.

"Yeah," Duke said, stuffing a chicken nugget in his mouth. "She's pathetic, you should just forget about her."

Bakura just shrugged off their comments, intending to not listen to them. He and Marik had been friends and neighbors for as long as he could remember, and he was not going to be swayed by these guys he just met a week ago.

At least, that's what he thought at the time.

Bakura hadn't expected his friends to be so against his "crush" on Marik; every time he was with her or mentioned her, they all teased him or acted annoyed, or got angry, or basically _anything_ except just listen to him or leave them alone. He also hadn't expected the story of him crushing on a "sevvy" to get around the school so fast and cause such of an uproar. Everyone was calling him a pedophile, pervert, or "cradle-robber," which annoyed him a lot. But this wasn't what made him snap, oh no, he could handle anything they threw at _him_, but when they started teasing _her_, and started making _her_ cry, well… he lost it, especially when he saw that Marik wouldn't protect herself because she didn't want to hurt anyone, and it was "only her feelings getting hurt anyways, so it didn't matter."

In ninth grade, he started ignoring her because he didn't want her to get hurt because of him anymore.  
That summer, Marik avoided him like the plague.

In tenth grade, he was still ignoring her to protect her, but now he started teasing her because that's what his friends did too.  
That summer, Marik avoided him like a pack of wild dogs.

In eleventh grade, the year he could finally date Marik, he started to believe that such a masculine girl _was_ pathetic, and now the teasing/torments were real.  
That summer, Marik treated him like a disgusting animal.

And now, he was in twelfth grade. By this time, he had been planning to celebrate his two-year anniversary with Marik, but now he wouldn't be able to celebrate even a _week_-a-versary. Hell, not even a two-day-versery or something.

_Why did I start thinking that she was pathetic?_ Bakura asked himself. _We used to have so much fun together_.

* * *

Marik's shrill shriek rang throughout the halls. "Bakura, let go of my skirt!-!" she yelled.

Bakura had just loosely gripped a large portion of her yellow skirt and was holding it up, showing everybody her shorts underneath. "You call yourself a girl?" Bakura mocked, "You can't even wear a skirt without shorts!"

Marik ground her teeth together, glaring at him. "It's to protect myself from _assholes_ like you!" she yelled, wrenching the fabric away.

"Oooh, swearing?" Bakura said with a wag of his finger. "Not very ladylike, Princess."

"Go to hell, _pervert!_" she yelled at him before turning around and walking away.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Pathetic," he mumbled under his breath before turning around and bumping into Kilam again. "Okay, you need to stop doing that," Bakura said, looking up at him, one arm akimbo.

"You're still picking on Marik, I see," he said simply.

"You know, I remember a time when you used to join in with tormenting her," Bakura said, getting tired of his "high-and-mighty" act.

Kilam's eyebrows creased in confusion. "Yes, but… something happened that made me change my perspective."

"Yeah, well, nothing like that's happened to me, so just shove it," Bakura muttered before pushing him out of the way and walking to his next class.

* * *

As the day progressed, Bakura began to feel more and more like Kilam, which terrified him. He'd rather feel _something_ than _nothing_, which is why every little thing started pissing him off. At least anger was better than nothing; maybe that was how TV felt about things sometimes.

He knew – deep, _deep_ in his head – that he should try and make himself happy, but honestly that's never done _anything_ for him. He used to be happy with Marik, and look how that turned out now. No, anger seed to be the only reason anything in his life got done; it was anger that protected Marik (_But now she's even worse off with you tormenting her_), it was anger that kept him safe (_Your heart's already ruined; it wouldn't take much to keep _it_ safe_), and it was anger that fueled his homework (_That you usually fail_).

Yep… Anger was the main emotion of this day. The other people that he usually picked on stayed _way_ clear of him, not that Bakura would have talked to them anyways; they were only minor beings, unimportant. Completely unlike Marik, who disgraced the female name no matter where she went. Yes, nothing like her… Nothing like that tomboy.

"Hey Kilam," Bakura asked during lunchtime, "Can I borrow your meds?"

Kilam just stared at him. "Are you having violent anger problems too?" he asked calmly.

"I think I'm about to," Bakura mumbled, stabbing his burger. Kilam was the only other person at the table; the Egyptian boy usually ate alone since he scared everyone else, although their fear was mainly because if someone had to take such _severe_ meds, then he was obviously a danger to everyone around him. Not even Bakura's three "friends" wanted to take the chance to sit next to him, so when Bakura wanted to be left alone he sat with Kilam; he wouldn't annoy him too much. Besides, looks like his group had decided to go ahead and skip class anyways.

Kilam thought for a minute. "Well, I could try and get my doctor to up the prescription," he said sincerely. Kilam didn't understand sarcasm very well.

Bakura sighed. "Nah, that's all right. Don't up it unless you have to."

"All right. That's good too, since we just had it downgraded last week."

Bakura looked at him, surprised. "Really? Why didn't you say anything?"

"No one asked," Kilam responded, looking up at the sky. He turned his gaze back to Bakura after a moment, a question evident on his face. "Say, Bakura," he began, "I heard that you and Marik used to be good friends."

"… Yeah, so?"

Kilam creased his eyebrows. "So, what happened?"

Bakura stared at his burger before taking the top bun off. "We grew apart," he said as he ripped the bun in half. "The age gap was too great, the only time we saw each other was after school and even that was limited by all of the homework I got as a new freshman, and everyone picked on us for being friends." Bakura ripped another piece of the bun with each reason of "what happened," and continued ripping after that. Eventually, there was only one rip-able piece left. "And, when it comes right down to it," he said, starting to rip the last piece, "she's just a female wannabe." He dropped the two pieces of the bun left on his plate, scowling at the now-mangled bun.

Kilam reached over and grabbed one, seemingly fine piece of the bun, staring at it. "If you're trying to say your relationship with Marik is like this hamburger bun," he said slowly, "then there's still some good pieces left. See?" he said, showing it to Bakura who glared at the piece. "You could take the seed from the good pieces, plant them, grow the foundation, and form another one." He smiled slightly, but on him it looked kind of creepy. "You can make a better relationship than the first."

Bakura scowled, took the bun piece from his hand and ate it. "The sesame seeds on a hamburger bun can't grow anything anymore, Kilam," he said stubbornly.

Kilam chuckled, smirking a bit. "Yes, well, relationships can hardly be compared to _buns_ now, can they?"

Bakura scowled at him before picking up his hamburger patty and taking a bite. "Touché, Kilam. Touché."

* * *

"Oh! Rain! Rain is very good for the environment –" Bakura's AP biology teacher began before being tuned out by the British boy.

Bakura looked at the rain assaulting the windows and started dozing off. Rain; purification; renewal; washing; cleansing. If Kilam were here, he'd probably say something about a rain purifying his and Marik's relationship, but what would the rain be? His actions? Could only he cause the rain? Maybe he didn't want to anymore; maybe he didn't like Marik anymore. He didn't know, he never allowed himself to think about a relationship with the pathetic girl anymore. Even if he decided he still wanted one, like hell Marik would want one with him. So, the only two options would be to completely ignore her, or keep tormenting her. Even a simple friendship was completely out of the question.

He scowled. Why was he thinking of all this now? He had managed to stop thinking about it for two years now, managed to justify his actions, so why question it now? Fact: Marik was pathetic. Fact: Marik and he used to be best friends. Fact: It's pathetic to date someone two years younger than you, apparently. Fact: Bakura _used _to love Marik, and possibly, Marik used to love him back… Fact: Marik was tormented by him, pure and simple, ever since 10th grade; 8th grade for her. These were the facts, so why question them now? Was it just because someone as emotionally detached and ignorant as Kilam finally started questioning him? Or maybe, secretly, he wanted to grow a new sesame bun and just didn't know how…

He remembered when Kilam came into their school last year as an incoming Junior. He found it very weird how, on the year where he could have finally dated Marik, a boy shows up that looks exactly like her, almost as if the universe wanted to torment him and make him remember her every day. At first he had kind of avoided Kilam because of how much he looked like he girl he'd rather just forget at this point, but after having to work with him on a class project he realized that he was _nothing_ like Marik, and figured it'd be fine to be "friends" with him. Kilam actually joined in when they tormented her, sometimes, saying offhanded comments that could be taken as an insult or a compliment or pretty much anything else. For example, one time Marik tripped, causing her books to go flying all over the hallway, and Kilam said, "Her hormones must be making her clumsy." He said it almost as an excuse, but then TV added, "Yeah, that estrogen probably feels unwanted in the _boy!_" and laughed, making everyone else in the group laugh. Except Kilam, who would only offer a half-hearted smile, as if he didn't feel it was funny but figured he'd smile anyways.

Then, Senior year came, and Kilam seemed to think, somehow, that tormenting Marik, even through the indecisive comments he made, wasn't worth it anymore. "_Something happened that made me change my perspective_," he had said. What could that have possibly been? Could something change _his_ perspective like that as well?

* * *

"Any boy who'd like you is probably gay," Bakura said to Marik in the hall just as she had finished talking and laughing with some boy.

She turned and glared at him. "You'd know about that, wouldn't you?" she spat at him as the boy walked away, wanting to avoid trouble.

For some reason, that comment _really_ hurt him, and he didn't know why. "And why would I know?" he said, "It's not like I ever liked you."

Marik ground her teeth again before saying stiltedly, "Right. Yeah. Okay. Whatever." She walked forward, pushing him aside a little bit as she did so. "And by the way, put on some deodorant once in a while," she called behind her shoulder.

Bakura just rolled his eyes; that wasn't the first time that Marik said he smelled, _or _insinuated that he was gay. When they used to be friends, Marik teased him for his "gift" with makeup. "A boy shouldn't be able to apply makeup so well," she said, "even if they're helping other people for a play."

"And a girl should be able to _apply_ makeup," Bakura would respond with a smirk.

Marik would cross her arms and defend herself, "I'm good with eyeliner!"

"But nothing else," Bakura would say, and the conversation would be finished with Marik hitting him in the head.

She also teased him for his looks, saying they were the exact opposite; a girl who looked masculine and a boy who looked feminine. "Only difference is that _you_ actually pull it off," Marik would complain with a pout.

"You still look pretty," Bakura would always assure her, if for no other reason than to see her blush. Yes, he'd always make sure she knew she was pretty.

Always…

* * *

Bakura slammed his front door shut when he arrived home, rolling his eyes when his mother greeted, "Hello honey! How was school?"

"Like you care!" Bakura responded before going up the wooden stairs to his room and slamming that door shut as well. He hated his mother, he hated how she tried to actually treat him like a son now. After their dad died in a car accident when he was eight, she wouldn't even _look_ at him. For eight years, all she was good for was a meal, but ever since eleventh grade she actually tried to be a mother now. He hated her for it; she had all the time in the world to be a mother, and he wasn't going to give her another chance.

He dropped his backpack on the ground and fell face-down onto his dark blue bed, deciding to take a nap before he started his homework or refused to go downstairs for a "family meal."

He didn't expect or understand the tears that silently escaped his eyes and tied a knot in his stomach.

~!~!~!~

A knock at his door woke Bakura from his nap. "Bakura, dear!" his mother's voice rang through the thick wood. "Dinner's ready!"

"I'm not hungry!" Bakura yelled at her, stopping the incessant knocking.

"… I'd still like to see you, Bakura," her weak voice said.

"Well I don't wanna see you! Just leave!"

He had to wait for a minute before he finally heard the stairs creak, signaling her descent back to the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes, feeling a thin layer of water on his face. He looked down at the pillow and saw that there were fresh tear-stains on the white fabric, almost mocking him. "Haha, you cried! Pathetic!"

Bakura flipped his pillow around before grabbing his backpack and hoisting it up on his bed. _Might as well get started on homework_, he figured as he felt his stomach growl.

Halfway through his trigonometry homework, however, he threw his notebook on the ground and laid back in his bed. _Screw it, I'll do it later_, he told himself, deciding that he'd just go to sleep early so he'd wake up at around midnight and finish his homework before school. That usually seemed to work for him. He closed his eyes, already dozing off to sleep.

Then, the strangest thing happened.

His window flew open, causing a freezing wind to come in and making the red curtains flow out through the open surface. The wind chilled him right to the bone, but as he went to go close the window, a concentrated fog infiltrated his room and it shut with a resounding _slam!_ Bakura stared at the window before turning his attention to the fog that was somehow still in his room. He then almost suffered a heart attack when the fog started forming into a person. "What the hell?-!" he exclaimed, stepping backwards into his mahogany desk, the corner digging deep into his back. The fog quickly formed an Egyptian man with a white robe, white turban, and a boyish face. His dark eyes turned and stayed on Bakura for a second before he started swirling around him, forcing Bakura to fling his arms around to try and hit the ghostly figure. "Get the fuck out of here!" he yelled, swinging willy-nilly until he somehow fell on his bed again.

The fog figure then reappeared in front of him, nearly scaring him to death, and he began chanting;

"_Congratulations, human!  
You've made it through the day!  
But did you do it kindly?  
Or in a hateful way?_

"_Of all the who's you meet,  
And the even more you see,  
Did you smile at them?  
Or force them all to flee?"_

Bakura's body was lifted up and put the right way on his bed, scaring him witless, as the ghost-man flew around the room, continuing his eerie poem before Bakura could even process what was happening.

"_You've a bitter soul,  
A bitter heart,  
And even bitter goals.  
Do you know that what you do  
Makes others feel like crying, too? _

"_You monster, you liar,  
You ugly little creature!  
Do not treat the miseries of others  
As some astounding feature!"_

At this point, Bakura's bed sheets rose up from under him and then fell back down on top of him, tucking him in and making sure that he couldn't move. It even felt they were trying to constrict the life out of him, but the ghost just continued his speech, hovering directly over him and _glaring_.

"_You think you're clever, _boy,_  
With your unrelenting guise?  
Then why don't you just see the day  
Through someone else's eyes?" _

The ghost flew into him after his last words, shooting pain up all along Bakura's body. He could only see white, his limbs going numb and his heart burning with fire before he blacked out from the incredible pain.

* * *

Well! Hope you enjoyed that! XD haha. I have finals next week, and then I'm off of school, so unless a miracle happens, the next chapter will probably not be up by next week… but I'll try my darndest!

And now, take note of the emphasis put on the review button at the bottom… could you maybe, oh, I don't know, click it? Show them you approve of their decision for the new outlook! And then, after you click it, you could… Oh, I don't' know… tell me what you thought of this chapter! Yes, that'd be great! Excellent idea, don't you think? Thanks~ XD

~~~{(ANONYMOUS/UNSIGNED) REVIEW REPLIES}~~~

**xXFlorence4everXx**: Thanks! I'm glad you thought the first chapter was cute, what did you think of this one~? :3 Hope you liked it ^^  
Thank you for reviewing, Florence~

**Kitty Whompits McJagger II**: MADISON! *glomps* OMG you actually read this XD Haha, glad you liked it! You thought it was better than Purple?-? You love that story! Dang, that means I must've done a good job on this. THANK GOODNESS. And can you actually _read_ "A Vampire Story" before you judge it? -_- I re-did the first two chaps so they don't suck anymore. And thank you for reviewing~ I appreciated it very much ^^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter =) And no! MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN _YOUR_ FAVOR! (You're Katniss and I'm Pita; YOU WILL BE SAVED – MUA HA HA HA HA).


	3. The Senses

**I have risen from the ashes to bring you this! After three months… TT_TT I am so sorry…**

**Some of you commented about AVS in your review though… XD Which makes me ask - do you read the review replies even if they're not "to" you?-! I always assumed everyone else skipped over those…**

**While on the talk of reviews, I would like to thank Aqua girl 007, wolfairer, xXFlorence4everXx, CorGryphonFeather, anime-on-replay, MadRayTer, Xochiquetzai, Shadow Realm Triforce, and OMAI for reviewing~ Each review was like a shot of happiness to my soul :3**

**Hope you enjoy! ^-^ (there's so much OOC in this chapter *facepalm*)**

* * *

_**Chapter 3: The Senses**_

When Bakura awoke that morning, he was met with a purple ceiling that had Egyptian hieroglyphics pasted on it. He yawned, stretched, and then stepped out of bed, dressed in dark red silk pajamas and his golden hair sticking out in front of his face.

_What the hell?_ he thought to himself as his body moved across the plush, pale-pink carpeting, down the white hall, and to the tiled bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, he was met with Marik's face. _What's going on?-!_ he thought again. _How did I, why is, what?-! _He, and Marik, reached a hand up to pull at and try to fix their messy hair. The hair moved through his, _her, _fingers and left them feeling brushed; he could hear the sound of the digits going through her locks, and all the while could feel her face set in concentration and slight aggravation.

This body, _Marik's _body, was moving without any guidance or consultation from him, yet he could see, hear, and feel everything that she did. It was as if he was just a visitor in her body, travelling along as if incased with a shell. His thoughts were his own, but his actions belonged to Marik.

"Oh man," Marik said, and as she said the words Bakura felt like _he_ was saying the words also. "Stupid hair, you better cooperate today." She and Bakura grabbed a comb to work on her hair better, her face set in dead concentration as she tried to make the hair stay down. Once she was satisfied with her hair, she moved onto her teeth, then her face, and finally she applied her kohl.

_This is so weird_, Bakura thought as she applied the dark makeup. _Is this a dream? What the hell is going on? How did I get here? _He imagined his eyes widening as he thought, _Did that ghost bring me here? _

"_Then why don't you just see the day Through someone else's eyes?"_

Yes, that was what he had said, so did that mean he was going to experience a day through Marik's eyes only? What about his own body? What became of that?

Marik walked back to her bedroom, picking up a pair of clothes that she had most likely set out the day before. Wait a minute; yellow skirt, black T-shirt, and yellow jacket? That was the outfit she wore yesterday, so he was experiencing _yesterday _through her eyes?

"Maybe yellow isn't the best color," she said, holding it up to her hips. "Hmm… Ah well, one day of yellow isn't going to kill me." She turned her head to the digital clock on her nightstand by her violet bed, reading that the time was 5:30am. "Shoot! I'm gonna miss it!" she said as she hurriedly started getting dressed.

Bakura could feel dread and a sense of guilt strike his core at the thought of seeing Marik disrobe, but then something even _more_ strange than the current strangeness happened. The part where Marik undresses was just cut out completely, and before Bakura could process it, Marik was riding her bike through the woods on a familiar path. Bakura imagined his eyes widening again; it was the bike path to their, their… meadow… Marik was riding out to their meadow to see the sunrise; that's why it was still dark all around her.

His sight shifted as Marik turned her head to where a thin ray of light was coming out over the horizon. "Shoot! I'm gonna miss it!" she exclaimed before pedaling faster. "Come on legs, don't fail me now!-!"

Bakura felt like smiling; it was nice to know that Marik hadn't changed much.

Wait, why should he care?

Much to Marik's satisfaction, she made it to the meadow just in time to see the sun peeking out. She dropped her bike hurriedly to the ground, almost tripping over it in the process, and stood firmly in the grass, staring up at the beautiful sunset, her mouth upturned into a smile. "And so the sun has come again today," she whispered to herself, "but for how much longer will it stay?"

Bakura smiled to himself, feeling happy that Marik still enjoyed something as simple as a sunset. _Of course enjoying something so, _trivial _is… pathetic, obviously… _he thought to himself weakly, finding that he didn't really believe the words. Although, thinking back, he _never_ meant any of the words he said to Marik recently…

Soon, she let out a contented sigh and hopped back on her bike, peddling leisurely back to her house. She stood up, feeling the wind blow her hair up, her mouth upturned into a smile, making Bakura want to smile too. Is this what it felt like to be Marik? Silky hair flying back, gently caressing your neck as the wind left a fresh taste on your tongue?

"Marik soon arrived at her house," Bakura heard her narrate to herself. "After witnessing a glorious sunset, she was ready to face anything!" Bakura felt like laughing; Marik was one of those people who narrated themselves?-! Hilarious! He felt like laughing more, but then she skidded her bike to a stop at her back door, stepping inside the kitchen and grabbing a piece of toast that was in the toaster already. She held the bread in her mouth as she grabbed her backpack that was by the door and hopped back on her bike. "I'm leafing!" she called into the house, her voice muffled by the bread.

"Okay, be safe!" a voice Bakura recognized as Marik's sister, Isis, called back.

"I always am!" Marik replied with a smile before closing the back door and peddling away.

_I still don't know what's going on_, Bakura thought to himself as his – _her_ – body traveled down the road to their school. _But I might as well sit back and enjoy the ride_.

* * *

"Marik!" a voice rang out once she stepped inside the school's main entrance after safely locking her bike up on the bike rack. She turned to see someone who looked like Bakura, only _she_ was actually smiling unlike the boy. "Marik, I managed to see the sunset today, and it was amazing!" She twirled around in her blue jeans before winding up directly in front of Marik. She laughed, but Bakura felt like scowling. This girl, Ryou, had never appealed to him. Possibly it was due to the fact that, just as Marik and Kilam looked completely the same with different anatomy, Ryou and Bakura looked the same as well. The only difference so far was that Ryou's features were kinder, softer, and more feminine than his. She also had a decent-sized girl attribute that Marik lacked.

"I told you the sunsets were beautiful," Marik responded, smiling. "I find the Friday sunsets to be the best."

Ryou laughed, her light blue and white-striped shirt bouncing slightly, then she grabbed Marik's hand and started running through the school. "Come on, before anyone else gets here! To our sanctuary!"

They ran down the hallway, and thanks to Ryou's comment, Bakura noticed that they got here _really _early. The school was deserted; not a soul in sight. Why did these two get here so early?

No matter the reason, Marik and Ryou soon arrived in the courtyard. Ryou turned to Marik and made a heart symbol with her hands. "So, how are things with you and Jake~?" she said in a slightly teasing tone.

_Jake?_ Bakura thought to himself, feeling a pang of… something…_ Who's Jake?_

"Get off it!" Marik said, pushing Ryou lightly. "He's a Junior, like he'd be interested in me."

Ryou snickered and reached into her small, white purse, taking out a compact mirror. She opened it and held it out to Marik. "But it's obvious that you're interested in _him~_." Marik looked in the mirror and saw that a light blush had washed over her face. Her tanned skin usually concealed the red coloring, but anyone who's known her for a long time is able to tell what she looks like when blushing. Like Bakura, who now felt that pang grow. Who was this "Jake" person?

Marik pushed the mirror away. "Okay, maybe. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's to not go after an older man." Bakura couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt at Marik's statement… But why should he? It wasn't his fault she felt that way, I mean… just because they grew apart… It wasn't his fault!

Ryou laughed. "So what, you're going to go after younger ones?"

"If that's what it takes," Marik joked, spinning around and winking at her.

Ryou laughed. "Marik the Cougar. Huh."

"Oh be quiet," Marik said before sitting down by a tree.

Ryou joined her. "Anyways, wanna play a new card game I found?" she asked. Bakura raised an eyebrow; he didn't know much about Ryou, and the fact that such a, even he had to admit it, pretty girl played card games? It was highly amusing; definitely something he could tease the girl about if he ever saw her.

"If it's Duelmonsters, no," Marik replied with an eye roll.

"Actually, this one's called Magic," Ryou said, taking out a deck of cards that proclaimed "Magic" on the backside art. "Come on, it's fun!

Marik smiled slightly. "Okay, why not? Teach me how to play."

Bakura tried to listen in on how to play the game at first, but he soon got lost and just tuned it out. Although, now that he thought about it, maybe Marik was the one tuning it out and Bakura was just copying her…? He wasn't sure; so far he hadn't really heard any of her thoughts though, so it was probably him.

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful, where Bakura was concerned. Marik and Ryou finished their card game and they went to their respective lockers to get ready for their first class. Everything was moving slowly, until this one _obvious _girly-girl bumped into Marik on her way to first period. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to hit you," she sneered at Marik, filling Bakura with a touch of annoyance. He had always hated extreme girly-girls, and he really didn't like this one's tone…

Marik scowled at her. "Yeah, I'm sure. I guess your stripper heels just made you trip, huh?" she said coyly. Bakura felt like laughing, _Good one, Marik!_

The mean girl glowered at her. "Well, I'm surprised you're not so clumsy yourself, considering your _operation _and all."

_What operation? _Bakura thought at the same time Marik asked, "What operation?" _Oh, Marik doesn't know either._ Bakura had a very bad feeling in his stomach as he realized what this girl was most likely going to say.

She laughed. "Please Marik, you don't need to hide it!" she said deviously. "Everyone knows about your sex change operation!"

_That was a good one_, Bakura admitted, feeling very conflicted with wanting to both laugh and punch that blonde Barbie hard in the face.

Marik ground her teeth. "Well, I see you still don't have enough money to cure your _bitch _disease," she said with barely concealed anger before walking forward, bumping her into the lockers while doing so. Marik kept walking, even though she heard the Barbie girl scream curse words at her. "Swearing's not very ladylike, now is it?" she muttered to herself, continuing on her way. "Bitch," she said right before her books got taken out of her hand. She turned around, and then Bakura saw a sight that would have frozen him: it was himself, holding Marik's book away from her…

_I look like a jerk_, he thought, seeing his cruel smirk and uncaring gaze through Marik's eyes. He held the book away from her carelessly, swinging it around as if it weighed nothing. "Oh, what's this?" he heard himself say, sounding positively…coldhearted. Which, usually wouldn't bother him, but seeing himself like this… it made him uncomfortable. "Algebra?" he said, flipping through the pages. "Boooring!"

Marik clenched her fists and held her hand out. "Bakura, give that back right now," she said. Before, through his own ears, Bakura had thought she sounded angry, but now he thought she just sounded fed up.

"Nah," Bully Bakura said before holding it up in the air. Marik stomped her foot and made a grab for it, but then Bakura felt his hand enclose around her forehead, successfully holding her back.

"Give me my algebra book back!" she yelled.

"Why don't you take it from me, _boy?_" Bakura winced; if he had known that that stupid Barbie had just commented on a _sex-change _operation, he wouldn't have said… but, the sad thing was, he _would_ have. He would have thought it'd be all the more hilarious, in fact part of him _did _think that right now. _Damn, I'm such a jerk…_ he thought to himself disconsolately. Why hadn't he realized this until now? Why had he felt _happy_ acting like this - "putting her in her place" and all that nonsense that his friends told him. It was bloody stupid, and yet he could still defend his actions; defend why he was acting like this…

It made him feel sick, but at the same time he couldn't help but think that this was okay. Somehow… it was okay…

Marik huffed and stepped back so his hand wasn't on her anymore. She glared at him and crossed her arms, just like Bakura remembered, but now he could feel the distinctive sense of tears behind her eyelids. "I'm not a boy, for the last time!" She ground her teeth, not in anger like he had originally thought, but to try and hold the tears back better. "Now give me the book before I have to hurt you."

Bully Bakura laughed and threw the book back at her. Marik barely managed to catch it as he said haughtily, "That's cute, Marik," before walking away to go hive-five his "friends." _They all look like jerks too…_ he thought to himself as Marik wiped her eyes. _And, secretly, I had always known that, but…_ He couldn't finish that thought; he knew they were jerks, but they were his friends – people just like him.

So what did that say about himself?

Marik turned around and started walking, but she didn't go to her class. Instead, she entered the bathroom, and after a quick look around the room, the tears began to fall. She dropped her books on the sink and stared at herself in the mirror.

Bakura would have given anything at that moment to hug her, to wipe her tears, to talk to her, to apologize, _anything_. She just looked so sad, so heart-broken, so, so… _lost_. How had he thought torturing her and teasing her was all right? If _this_ was what he was doing to her, if _this_ is what his words did… How could he be so careless? None of this was "okay"…! None of it!

… _But I can't care_, Bakura thought to himself coldly. _I lost that privilege long ago… _

Her hair stuck up on end, the tears traveled down her face and smeared her kohl just a fraction of a bit, and her face was contorted in the sorrowful frown you always get when crying. She kept staring at herself as the tears moved quietly, but then suddenly her face hardened, she wiped her eyes, made sure that it didn't look like she was crying anymore, and left, walking into her next class.

_I knew Marik was strong,_ Bakura thought, _but not _so_ strong…_

* * *

Marik went through her first two classes without any interferences, though it appeared that she didn't have any classes with her friend, Ryou, so far, and she didn't really talk to or look at anyone in the classroom either. Did she only have Ryou as a friend, or were they just not in her morning classes? Bakura assumed it was the latter, mainly because Marik was considered a nice person and the idea of her only having one friend seemed absolutely ridiculous to him.

Anyways, she was very distracted during her classes and kept doodling in her notebook. She filled one page with classic girly drawings, with all the hearts, initials, flowers, and other cutesy thing Bakura could think of. Bakura was very surprised at this; he didn't think Marik would do something _this _girly, for even if she wanted to look like a girl he remembered her saying she still hated most of the things deemed "girly" by society.

Her drawing in general also felt kind of weird for him, because he could feel her arm moving, feel the careful tracing and how she lightened up her grip or the stress on the pencil. It was as if _he_ was the one doing these things, and yet he knew he wasn't. It was all very confusing for his mind, but he managed to keep up with the current events. Somehow.

Soon, after she was finished with her hearts and flowers, she labeled at the top, "Girl Doodles", drew a circle around the whole landscape, and ran a line through it. Bakura laughed very hard to himself when she finished at the bottom, "I don't think so!" _That's _the Marik he remembered. She then proceeded to turn the page over, draw a magnificent picture of a realistic dragon with detailed scales, claws, and other distinct features spewing billowing fire from its carefully shaded mouth, trace a circle over the dragon, and add a thumbs-up sign next to it. "Girl approved!" she wrote at the bottom before turning the page over and adding a thumbs down sign at the bottom, next to her original statement. Bakura just kept laughing, and laughing, and laughing.

"Marik Ishtar," the teacher suddenly said, causing Marik to turn her head up to the board for the first time since the class started. "Would you care to tell the class what we've been discussing for the past ten minutes?" The teacher, a tall lady with short black hair and thick glasses, glared at her, annoyed.

Marik bit the inside of her lip, hesitating; Bakura couldn't help but wait anxiously for how she would handle this situation, since it was obvious she had no idea what they had been talking about. "Please forgive me, Mrs. Sanchez," she said carefully, "I was…" she bit her lip and looked down, almost as if she was ashamed of what she had been doing. _What is she doing…?_ "Thinking about a problem, I'm having, uh…"

Mrs. Sanchez sighed. "It's all right. Please try to pay attention from here on out." She turned back to the board and began writing a title on it, but Marik just turned back to her drawing and smirked to herself, breathing out, "Hook, line, and sinker~"

_Marik, you sly vixen!_ Bakura thought with a smirk of his own.

* * *

Throughout the course of the day, Bakura realized something else about Marik – she talked to herself. _A lot_. About anything and everything – it didn't even matter if there were other people around her!

"Stupid homework," she mumbled to herself as she walked the halls to her next class. "How in the world am I going to finish it all? I'll probably have to skip the gym today, let alone having any fun tonight…" She actually did speak more quietly when she saw someone near her; "Although if I work hard during study hall… and maybe I could finish a bit during lunch too… ugh, I should have paid attention during class."

This greatly amused Bakura; sure, he talked to himself too, but he usually only did that in his _head_, not out loud like a crazy person. And he also found out a lot about her as well this way, like how she often told herself to calm down in third person, and that she was a very hard worker – already trying to think of what homework to do first. The complete opposite of him, he had to admit.

Suddenly, he felt a tugging around his waist, as if someone was grabbing his pants. Or… his skirt… _Oh, damnit_, he thought, just as Marik let out a shriek and turned around, coming face to face with the person even Bakura was beginning to despise.

"Bakura, let go of my skirt!-!" she yelled. This time, Bakura could feel just how uncomfortable having a skirt being lifted up was, even if she _did _have shorts underneath – her legs immediately felt cold, and less protected somehow… He also felt her fists and jaw clench in anger; why was she holding herself back? Why didn't she stand up for herself and hurt him like he _knew_ she could! This was something he had also wondered when he was inside his own body, but from this perspective he was _angry_ that she wouldn't do anything rather than happy.

"You call yourself a girl?" his own, mocking, jerky voice came to him. "You can't even wear a skirt without shorts!"

He could feel her teeth grind together more forcefully, as well as her stomach churning with even more anger. Not to mention the feeling of tears building up yet again… "It's to protect myself from _assholes_ like you!" she yelled, wrenching the fabric away.

"Oooh, swearing?" Bakura said with a wag of his finger, increasing the dislike he already felt for himself. "Not very ladylike, Princess."

Bakura could feel tears prickling at her eyes more forcefully after his "Princess" comment, and he _had_ to wonder why; did his comments really get to her so much? "Go to hell, _pervert!_" she yelled before turning around and walking away. He could hear himself mutter "pathetic" just before entering the girl's room again. Just like before, she looked around to see if the coast was clear before setting her books down on the sink and wiping at her eyes furiously. "No," she said to herself forcefully, "you are _not_ going to cry. He's not worth it… He's not…" she couldn't speak anymore as the tears caught up in her throat. She dropped her hands and just let the tears fall, only this time she didn't look at herself.

As this went on, Bakura couldn't help but feel that need to comfort her again, but… he couldn't; even if he was in his own body right now he couldn't. Even though he knew he was acting like a jerk and realized that Marik did not need _any_ of his idiocy, he couldn't. Even when he saw what his words did to this girl… he couldn't… He just couldn't. Even if he did, Marik wouldn't believe him – hell, Bakura wouldn't believe _himself_ after what he's seen today. There was no way to repair this relationship… The best thing he could do for her was to just ignore her and not talk to her anymore…

_But I still want her in my life_, he thought to himself, feeling very melancholy all of a sudden. _Even if we're enemies…_

* * *

Marik fast-walked to the lunchroom, carrying all of the homework that she'd gathered from her morning classes. Which was actually quite a lot; an algebra textbook, three notebooks, and two folders with a packet in each. Bakura couldn't believe how much homework she received already – did he have so much homework in tenth grade? He didn't _think_ so, although he _was_ more motivated back then, so maybe it just didn't seem like a lot back then.

"Marik~!" Ryou's cheerful voice came to her ears right before the hyper girl latched on to Marik's arm. "Hey girl, how's school so far?"

"Eh," Marik said, shrugging, not seeming to mind Ryou's hold at all. "Too much homework, annoying people – the usual."

Ryou giggled. "Did you see _Jake~?_" she asked teasingly.

_Again with this "Jake" person…_ Bakura thought touchily as Marik said, "_Nooo_," with an eye roll. "We have different classes –"

"Oh, if only you two were in the same math class!" Ryou interrupted, snapping her fingers decisively. "I mean, you _are_ taking Junior Algebra."

"Yeah, well…" Marik said, pausing, "it just wasn't meant to be. Just step off it – a little crush never goes anywhere."

"Only if you let it stay that way!" Ryou said pouting. She perked up suddenly though, looking behind her shoulder and smirking. She turned to Marik excitedly before whispering, "Guess who's right behind us!-!"

"What?-!" Marik asked, panicked; she almost dropped her books in her surprise, which for some reason filled Bakura with that pang again…

"See ya in the lunchroom, _sexy~_" Ryou said, winking at her before fast-walking away.

"Ryou!" Marik hissed nervously. "Don't leave me alone with -!"

"Hey, Marik," a smooth, deep voice froze her in her tracks, also making that pang Bakura felt grow… _What is this feeling?_

Marik swallowed nervously before turning around and smiling, brushing a lock of hair behind her ears. "H-hey, Jake. What's up?" Bakura inspected Jake carefully; he had shaggy, brown hair and wore loose jeans with a black T-shirt and a blue-jean jacket. His body seemed very toned, even through his clothes, and his face wasn't too bad either – not a zit or blemish that he could see… All-in-all, Bakura admitted grudgingly that he was a fairly handsome teenager. But he still didn't like him.

"Same-old, same-old," Jake replied nonchalantly, shrugging. "School. What're you gonna do, you know?"

"Yeah, right…" Marik said, looking away shyly and fingering one of her notebooks nervously. "So, uh, did you need anything, or…?"

Jake laughed. "Can't I just talk with a pretty girl?"

Bakura could _feel_ Marik blush this time, and he was starting to seethe with an emotion that he recognized – anger. This guy was one of those "pretty boys" – those guys that would say anything to get with anyone… the probability of him actually _liking_ Marik was probably slim-to-none, because this type usually wanted one thing and one thing only, and that was _not_ a lasting relationship.

… Or maybe he just didn't like the idea of Marik with this, this… _Jake_.

"Well, sure you can, but, I…" Marik stumbled, embarrassed. Oh, how Bakura would love to hear what was running through her head right now…!

Jake chuckled a bit before casually brushing a loose strand of hair behind Marik's ear; a little tingle appearing wherever his fingers touched her skin. Bakura couldn't help but feel sick by this knowledge. "You have cute ears… I think you'd look even better with your hair up," he said quietly, forcing her to strain her ears to hear him. _Oh, this guy's good…_ Bakura thought resentfully.

"… O-Okay…" Marik stuttered, not being able to tear her eyes away from Jake's deep, brown ones.

Luckily, he soon took his hand away and just smiled at her. "Anyways, I wanted to know if you'd like to, I don't know, hang out some time?"

_What?-!_ Bakura thought to himself incredulously. _There's no way she'll say – _

"S-sure!" Marik said quickly, smiling a big smile.

"Great," Jake said, laughing a bit. "Okay, well, see ya around."

"See ya around," Marik echoed as Jake walked past her, towards the cafeteria. She watched him walk all the way there, frozen to the spot, and Bakura just couldn't _believe_ that Marik liked this guy…! He was obviously just a huge flirt!-!

… But, his invitation to hang out did seem kind of sincere…

He stopped thinking when Marik held a hand up to her forehead and groaned. "Ugh, Marik you are such a _girl!_" she told herself disdainfully. "Why can't I just speak around him? Why? He's just a person, he's only a year older than me, and it's not like there's a even _chance_ that he likes me…" She leaned against the wall and sighed deeply, a smile stuck on her face. "I'd love to hang out, Jake, thanks for asking…!" she said dazedly before shaking her head and walking forward. "Okay, okay, time for lunch. Eating, consumption… energy... oh, but my stomach's tied in such a knot..." she said, disappointed in herself. "Ugh! Stop being such a girl!-!"

"I must say," Ryou's voice announced, causing Marik to turn her head to the corner where her friend was hiding behind, "watching you so flustered like this is very entertaining."

"Sod off!" Marik yelled, blushing again. Bakura couldn't help but feel a little happy that she still used that term; when they were around ten and eight respectively, Bakura would constantly say the "classic" British phrase and Marik made fun of him for it since she thought "sod" wasn't an actual word and was just something British people said to sound different. Bakura tried to tell her that it _was _an actual word, but she never believed him, and when she _finally _found out that "sod" meant "The surface of the ground, with the grass growing on it" and/or "vulgar. An unpleasant or obnoxious person" she just looked at him monotonously and said, "Sod off... wanker."

That memory never ceased to put a smile on the British boy's face, and the fact that Marik still used it sometimes… it almost made Jake seem like a bad dream.

Unfortunately, Ryou kept talking about that horrid boy.

"It's just so funny!" the white-haired girl said, giggling. "You just don't seem the type to get nervous around your crush~." She grinned here before adding, "Although I suppose a _girl_ is a _girl_ no matter what, hm?"

"Sod. Off!" Marik repeated again through ground teeth, again making Bakura feel like smiling. "And I'm usually _not_, it's just… he… I'm more confident if I know how they feel about me, or if I know there's a possibility to become something… more…" She clenched her fist at this part as Ryou laughed at her friend's less-than-eloquent explanation. However, she continued her explanation under her breath nonetheless, "And even then there's no guarantee."

Ryou didn't seem to hear the girl, as she kept laughing, but Bakura had heard her loud and clear. For the second time that day, he felt a wave of guilt hit him. _Come on… she can't be referring to me… _he thought, not believing the words even as he thought them. _I mean… I thought we'd be… I wanted it… too… but… _

"Still," Ryou said, recovering from her laughter. "You should learn how to be more _sociable_ around him. I could teach you, if you'd like!"

"I don't -"

"I mean, I used to be just like you," Ryou interrupted her friend's sentence by putting her arm around her shoulders and gesturing to the middle distance with her other hand. "Scared, shy, terrified of rejection, but then I girled up!" She turned to Marik with a grin. "And by that I mean embraced my femininity one hundred percent and donned what I like to call "confident" clothes~!"

Bakura and Marik both rolled their eyes at the end of her spiel. "_Please_, Ryou," Marik said, "you have a figure and complexion that every girl envies. _Any_ clothes are your "confident" clothes."

Ryou blushed slightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, just because I girled up doesn't mean I get embarrassed when people compliment me for something out of my control…"

Marik made an exasperated sound. ""Out of your control?-!"" she exclaimed, matching Bakura's disbelief perfectly. "_Please_; you probably exercise like crazy to keep that skinny!-! I bet you skip breakfast and dinner and only eat at lunch, too!"

Ryou glowered at her friend. "I'm not anorexic! We've discussed this many times!-!" she said heatedly. "And, yes, how thin I may be _is_ something I can control, but not the other aspect of my figure!"

Marik opened her mouth to argue back, but then she paused and took a deep, calming breath, which surprised Bakura somewhat. Marik had a _lot _of trouble controlling what she said, so the fact that she was taking the time to refrain from speaking her mind showed that she must really value Ryou's friendship, or that it could be lost easily. He couldn't help but laugh as the thought occurred to him that Marik used to _never _hold back around him; both of their minds were like an open book!

… Until he went to high school.

"You're right," Marik mumbled. "I'm sorry… You know how I get about that subject."

Ryou frowned. "I know, but I never understand why. I'd trade my "figure" for your strength any day -"

"I've offered to work out with you many times, Ryou," Marik said, chuckling a bit.

Ryou put her hands on her hips and pouted. "I know… but… I'm… ugh, shut up," she said lamely, not having a good excuse. Bakura grinned; Marik was always good at catching people's bluffs.

"Lazy~," Marik teased, laughing a bit. They stood there for awhile, until Marik coughed awkwardly and said, "Anyways, uh… got any spells to help me with Jake?"

Ryou's eyes brightened as Bakura wondered what Marik meant by "spells." "I _knew _you wanted him~!"

"Shut up," Marik said, but her small grin and slight blush eradicated any meaning behind the words. Which, of course, angered Bakura.

"As a matter of fact," Ryou began, digging into her pockets, "I _do_ have something for you!" She took out what looked like a key-chain; the pendant was a little golden rod, the Egyptian Eye of Horus with bat wings on either side of it forming the handle. "Ta-da~!" Ryou announced, shoving it in Marik's face.

Marik blinked at it for a second before grasping it. "What does it do?"

"It's a charm to allow you to _think _before you _speak_, which might help your stumbling problem around Jacob," Ryou explained, earning a glare from Marik and an unheard laugh from Bakura.

"That's nice. Now what does it _actually_ do?" Marik inquired more, raising an eyebrow.

Ryou frowned. "Oh come on, I told you what it does!"

"If there's one thing I've learned about you, Ryou, it's that you never tell me the _full_ powers of any of your witchcraft or whatever it is until _after_ I'm done using it, so tell me now." Bakura couldn't believe what he was hearing - Marik _believed_ in all this malarkey? Spells and charms and whoosie-whats-its? No way… And apparently she's used this type of garbage before, since it seemed she often asked Ryou for her "witchcraft."

Ryou sighed before smiling slightly. "Okay, you caught me. This is really a charm meant for mind control, but you can use it to control your own mind so that you'll be able to think more clearly."

"… How the heck does that work?-!"

"Beats me," Ryou said, shrugging, "but I've used it on some of my previous crushes when I had your problem, so I know it works!"

"It probably just acted as a placebo…"

"Well, it still worked, okay? Now lets go eat lunch! The gang's probably wondering where we are!"

"Yeah, good point," Marik said, slipping the charm into her pocket. Bakura felt like shaking his head at Marik. _There's no way that thing is going to _work_,_ he thought to himself. _Why does she believe it -_

"Oh, Ryou?" Marik asked suddenly as they walked into the cafeteria. "Do you have a hair-tie?"

Bakura seethed with anger when Marik asked that question, and he couldn't have been happier when Ryou said that she didn't have one on her.

* * *

Marik's lunch passed by pretty interestingly. She sat with a big group of people whom Bakura only remembered seeing in the halls. Yami and Yugi for two of 'em; boys with wild, identical hair whom Bakura had thought were twins and just now found out that they had never even seen each other before kindergarten.

How many look-alikes reside in this school?

Then there was a blonde man named Joey, the classic jock; a brunette named Tristan and who seemed obsessed with the intelligent, green-haired Miho; and finally the ballet dancer, Tea, who seemed to _really _like Yami, though he didn't seem to notice the poor girl. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Yami's look-alike Yugi seemed to really like Tea. Talk about a tragic love-triangle, made worse because Yami and Yugi were best friends.

Although, Bakura couldn't make himself care _too_ much. He barely knew them, after all, but he couldn't help but notice these things.

Bakura could also tell that Marik liked Joey the least. He was a nice guy, that much was obvious, but he was kind of dumb and didn't realize when he talked too much - he referred to Marik as "one of the guys," and every time he did so he could feel Marik's hands clench into fists in anger. _Why doesn't she tell him it bugs her?_ Bakura couldn't help but think. _Or maybe she already did and he still didn't get it…_

_Idiot_.

They talked about wildly varying things though; one moment they were talking about Joey's performances in the wrestling club, then Yugi and Yami were talking about how they totally crushed everyone at their Card Game Competition (apparently they entered a duo contest or something and were in the lead), and then they talked about Tristan and made fun of him for being the "hall monitor." Tea occasionally told them something funny about her dance class, and Ryou shared her vast knowledge of the occult a few times, scaring Joey (much to Bakura's amusement. And Marik's, actually).

In fact, it seemed everyone shared and talked; having a good time, laughing and joking, enjoying each other's company. Only, Marik didn't tell anything about herself… Even when Ryou asked her a question so the conversation could focus around her for a turn, she switched the attention right away. She joined in and talked a lot when it was about someone else, but she never shared herself.

Bakura couldn't help but frown at that. When he and Marik were friends she loved telling him about her life. All of the people that annoyed her that day, or something that really ticked her off or made her incredibly happy, or things that were bugging her - anything that happened to her and that she felt was important enough to share. Maybe that was it; she didn't think she had anything important to share? No, she even shared things that she admitted she just thought were interesting. Certainly she'd have _something_ to share - like how she got out of a detention in one of her morning classes. She would have _loved_ to tell Bakura about that. You know, when they were still… friends…

It seemed that the only one she actively talked to was Ryou, which Bakura supposed made sense. They were best friends, obviously, so it shouldn't be worrisome that she didn't talk about herself during lunch. And yet, Bakura couldn't help but worry about her… did she have trust issues? Is that why she didn't talk about herself?

… And were those issues _his_ fault? …

_Maybe I'm looking too much into it_, Bakura told himself as he tried to listen to what everyone else was saying. _Maybe she just doesn't feel like talking right now_.

Even as he said the words he didn't believe them.

* * *

"Everyone, take out their music folders and open up to the song, "Yes! We Have No Bananas,"" Marik's music teacher announced. Marik complied, and Bakura waited with anticipation to hear Marik sing. He loved hearing that girl sing - she had a wonderful voice, not that she'd ever admit it.

One time, Bakura had arrived to their meadow a little late and had the privilege to hear Marik's quiet voice singing a song like a little bird. Once she saw him, however, she got angry and embarrassed and started hitting him for spying on her; "_Pervert!_" Every time he asked her to sing after that, she just shook her head and said a sarcastic comment.

Although, _sometimes_ she sang for him. "_All right, fine. Only for you_."

… Only for you…

Suddenly Bakura felt like going to sleep… but he woke up quickly when Marik started to sing the alto part for the song "Yes! We Have No Bananas" with her beautiful voice. Bakura noted with amusement, however, that it was a completely hilarious, upbeat song about the fact that, yes, they didn't have any bananas that day. They had string beans and onions, cabashes and scallions, but yes, they had no bananas. He couldn't help but wonder how long it took Marik to be able to sing that song without laughing.

He enjoyed hearing Marik sing again though. He enjoyed it a lot, actually; probably more than he should have. _Definitely _more than he should have.

She and the class sang a few other songs that weren't near as entertaining as the first one (it was obvious that was the class favorite, even if some of them said it was stupid), and soon the class was over. "Guess time does fly when you have time," Marik muttered to herself as she packed up.

She took her time, being the last one to leave, and once she stepped out of the choir room door she came face to face with _Jake_.

"Oh!" Marik said, surprised, butterflies residing in her stomach. She slipped her hand in her pocket to feel the little pendant that Ryou gave her, making Bakura want to roll his eyes. "Hi, what are you doing here?" she asked with a smile. _Well, obviously he's never done this before_, Bakura said to himself with satisfaction. And just a little bit of suspicion.

"I heard you had music this period and decided to wait for you," he responded, smiling. "I have Psychology, the class next door."

"I know," Marik said, her eyes quickly widening as she added in a rush, "- that Psychology's next door! Not that you had psychology this period, I just, um…" she gripped the pendant before taking a deep breath and saying, "Well, I have to go to my locker… care to join me?"

_Huh, maybe that thing does work_, Bakura thought, still frowning.

"I'd love to," Jake replied. He flashed her a grin before turning around and walking to the tenth-grade locker hallway, Marik following after him while trying to stop grinning.

The whole ordeal made Bakura want to throw up. Or destroy something. Or both.

Soon they made it over to Marik's locker, which she had a little trouble opening with all the books in her hand. "I'll hold those for you," Jake offered, taking them out of her hands.

"Oh!" Marik exclaimed, "Th-thanks," she smiled before opening her locker and taking them back to put away in her locker.

"How do you carry so much stuff with you?" Jake asked, trying to make conversation.

Marik chuckled. "It's not that hard if you actually have muscles -"

"Unlike most of the girls in this school?" Jake finished, grinning.

Marik smiled at him. "Yes, exactly. I swear, I don't know _how_ they're able to lift those giant purses of theirs and not carry a textbook."

Jake started laughing, just like Bakura was. Marik always had a great sense of humor, something that he had always liked about her.

And, apparently, Jake liked that about her as well.

"You're funny. Most girls don't have a sense of humor."

Marik laughed before shutting her locker. "Yeah, well, I also have quite a temper, so better be careful!"

They both laughed, and Jake opened his mouth to say something when a much meaner voice interrupted, making Bakura cringe:

"Any boy who'd like you is probably gay."

Marik turned to glare at Bakura, who stared at himself with sorrow, already knowing what happens. _So I had interrupted her conversation with Jake…_ he thought, feeling a mix of happiness and guilt. While he didn't like _Jake_, Marik did, and interrupting a talk with your crush was … mean. He didn't have the right to be jealous anyways, and -

Wait, who said he was jealous?

"You'd know about that, wouldn't you?" she spat at him, noticing from the corner of her eye that Jake left. She clenched her fists when she saw that, and it made Bakura feel like wincing. Even if all it did to the past one was make him say:

"And why would I know that? It's not like I ever liked you."

_Liar_, Bakura thought bitterly, scowling at himself. _Why would I even say that?_

Marik ground her teeth and Bakura could feel the sting of tears against her eyelids again, making him feel even more angry with himself. _All I do is make her cry; why do I do that?_

"Right. Yeah. Okay. Whatever," she said stiltedly before walking forward, pushing him aside a little bit as she did so. As she passed him though, a giant whiff of body odor came to her nose and made her feel like gagging, so she added, "And by the way, put on some deodorant once in a while," over her shoulder.

_Maybe I should take that advice_… he thought, now that he actually had a chance to smell himself through someone else's nose.

Marik walked all the way to the bathroom again, this time going into one of the stalls before she sat down on the toilet and buried her face in her hands. "_'Why would I know that?'_" she whispered in a mocking imitation of Bakura's British accent, making a pit form in his stomach. "_'It's not like I ever liked you.'_" Her bottom lip started quivering so she bit it, _hard_. "Fuckin' bastard," she muttered, tearing up. She took a shallow breath, sniffing before she started wiping her eyes, determined to keep them dry. "Liar… you're just a damn liar, that's what you are, and I shouldn't even -"

She stopped talking when she heard the bathroom door open. She bit her bottom lip again as the tears passed in silence, only to be immediately dispelled by her hands. Footsteps came, echoing in the medium-sized room, and stopped right in front of her stall before a knock sounded through the room.

"Occupied," Marik said, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.

"I know," said Ryou's sad voice. "But I wanted to check -"

"I'm fine," Marik cut her friend of bitingly, grinding her teeth in regret as soon as she said it.

"No, you're not," Ryou said, sighing. They waited in silence for a bit before Ryou said, "You know, I could cast a spell to make him transfer out of the school. It's very effective, I've used it on many -"

"Don't do that," Marik muttered pathetically, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Why not? He causes you nothing but pain, Marik." Bakura didn't need to know who they were talking about… it was pretty obvious who was causing Marik pain, and it made him feel like crying as well.

Why was he such a jerk?

"I hate seeing you -"

"Because!" Marik interrupted her friend, sniffing and pressing her palms to her damp eyes. "… I, I don't know, just… don't. Let him stay here. I wanna see him ruin his life," she said, her voice taking a malicious edge at the end.

"… I think he ruined his life the day he lost you," Ryou stated honestly.

And Bakura couldn't help but agree with her.

* * *

As soon as Marik arrived home on her bike, a punch was thrown her way which she immediately blocked with a smile. "Really, Odion?" she said to her older brother as she dropped her backpack to the floor. "I thought practice wasn't until _after_ homework."

"A good fighter is always prepared!" Odion replied with a smirk before he threw a kick at her, which she easily blocked. They launched into a fight then, with Odion doing most of the offensive and Marik just blocking. Bakura felt like laughing; she had told him before that her brother trained her how to fight, and she was really proud the day that she was able to throw him down on the ground. Defeating the older Ishtar sibling was actually one of the reasons that Marik had practiced her techniques on Bakura.

"You don't seem that energized today, Odion!" Marik taunted, hitting him square in the chest.

"And you seem a little _distracted!_" Odion yelled the last word, making Marik hesitate for only a second, but it was enough for him to manage a kick to her side. A rather _strong_ kick, Bakura might add, though Marik just kept fighting despite the slight pain.

"That was a dirty blow!"

"Strangers will try even dirtier tricks, remember that, Marik!" Odion said, smiling and laughing as he dodged a kick.

"Why you -" He made for a punch at her, so she grabbed his hand and turned around before flipping him over her shoulder and onto the carpet.

"Oof!" Odion said, landing pretty hard on his back. He smiled up at Marik and said, "Nice job. But I can still do _this!_" He grabbed her foot, making her scream with a smile as he pulled it, making her fall on the ground with him.

"All right you two," Marik's older sister, Isis, said as she walked up with a smile, an apron covering her. "Odion, let Marik do her homework."

"Sorry, Isis," Odion said, "I'm just trying to prepare her -"

"Considering how many times you've ended up on your back, I think she's prepared enough," Isis interrupted with the shake of her head.

"Practice makes perfect!" Marik said, high-fiving Odion before they both laughed. Bakura smiled as well, happy that Marik's home life was filled with so much joy.

Isis rolled her eyes before walking back to the kitchen. "Dinner will be done in an hour. Get busy!"

"Yes, _mom_," Marik joked, giggling before she stood up, grabbed her backpack, and headed upstairs. "Now get to work, _dad!_" she called to Odion, who just snapped his fingers and announced, "I'm _always_ working!"

Marik laughed before she arrived in her room. Keeping the door open, she dropped her backpack on her bed before stretching and yawning. "Homework," she drawled out during her yawn. "Then dinner and maybe a nap before sunset," she finished, taking a seat on her bed and unzipping her backpack.

Bakura was bored out of his _mind _when she started doing her homework, so instead he started thinking about him and Marik, and… if there was any -_ any_ - way to repair such a broken, pitiful relationship.

Spending a day with her (well, inside her, he supposed), made him realize just how much he missed the girl. Seeing the sunrise and sunset with her, laughing with her, talking with her, just being with her… he missed it all so much. He couldn't even remember why he started ignoring her in the first place, let alone why he thought she was "pathetic." Such a wonderful person like Marik was anything _but_.

And yet… he had no idea how to regain the relationship he lost. It was obvious that he caused her nothing but pain now; even if he started trying to be nice to her, Marik might just think he was playing some kind of game. She might think he was only being nice to her so he could make a bigger fool out of her later, and he couldn't blame her for thinking as such. It was definitely more logical than the jerk he had seen today just being nice to her because he wanted to or, heaven forbid, out of the goodness of his heart.

"Uuugh, _English_," Marik muttered to herself, rubbing her eyes. "You're not even hard, why do you take so long?" Bakura chuckled to himself. English had always been her worst subject. "At least I finished math and history in school," she added, scribbling more answers to her English work.

Immediately after she finished, she slammed the book and announced, "Ha! I have defeated you, evil Word Beast!" right before Isis called up the stairs, "Marik! Dinner!"

"Coming!" Marik announced, smiling. "I just finished my homework, too~," she sang to herself before bounding down the stairs to the kitchen. She started setting the table as Isis moved their dinner to the middle of the table: some type of fish with a bowl of rice and a mixed vegetable dish, with fruit as their desert.

"Mmm, smell's delicious, honey!" Odion said as he walked into the kitchen and kissed Isis on the cheek.

She grinned at him. "Yes, well it's not hard to prepare a dish better than yours -"

"Hey!" Odion interrupted, "It's not my fault I don't have the gift of cooking."

"It's not my fault either!" Marik spoke up, smiling.

Bakura started laughing uncontrollably at that proclamation. He remembered the day Marik tried to cook for him, trying to prove her "femininity." He got food poisoning. _Bad _food poisoning. After that she never touched another cooking utensil again.

Isis laughed. "Let's all just sit down and eat. Odion, how was work today?"

"Same old, same old," Odion said, chuckling as he sat down, everyone following suit. "Museum paperwork is pretty boring, you know." Bakura was a little surprised; he had forgotten that Odion ran the local museum. He had taken over the position from his father when he was only 18, after that horrible man had been taken away.

"I'd trade museum curator for night guard any day," Isis said, sighing while she started picking her food from the table. "Those dinosaur exhibits give me the creeps."

"When can I start working at the museum with you guys?" Marik asked, pouting slightly.

"If your grades are good this year, you can start this summer," Odion told her, smiling.

Marik pumped her fist in the air. "Yes!"

"You'll have to start in the gift shop though."

"Awww!" Marik whined, her fork resting inside one of the fish.

The dinner carried on in that way, with much talk and laughter. Everything that a family should be…

Everything that Bakura was lacking in his own life.

* * *

"Hey, Isis?" Marik asked while she rinsed the dishes her older sister handed to her. "Do you get nervous around guys you like?"

Bakura felt like scowling. This was about _Jake_.

"Oh, definitely," Isis answered, nodding.

Marik smiled slightly. "Okay."

"I didn't think you did though," Isis continued, looking at her. "You seemed like the type of person to befriend the guy she liked right away."

Marik sighed. "And then puberty came…"

Isis laughed, handing her a sudsy plate. "Those darn hormones."

"Yes, those darn hormones," Marik agreed, and for a moment Bakura remembered when Marik teased him about _his_ hormones, and asked if they made him think of her differently.

… Well, of course he had to say yes to _that_ question…

She then continued to say that she was going to _hate_ the day they infested her body. So Bakura just _had_ to wiggle his eyebrows at her and say, "Trust me, Marik, you're going to _love_ them~." Which immediately made her flush and start hitting him, in turn making him laugh and weakly block her.

The good old days…

"Why the sudden curiosity in my love-life?" Isis asked, smiling knowingly. "Like anyone at school?"

_Just this stupid _Jake_ person,_ Bakura thought bitterly just as Marik blushed and hid her face. "N-no…"

Isis chuckled. "You're a terrible liar, Marik."

"I know…" she sighed. "Well, I just get so nervous around him, but today Ryou gave me a pendant -"

"That girl and her charms," Isis said, rolling her eyes.

Marik pouted. "Hey, Ryou's a lovely girl -"

"I know, but… she's kind of odd, you have to admit."

"So?-!" Marik said defensively. "_I'm _odd!-!"

Isis turned to Marik with a frown. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it, deciding against whatever she was about to say. "Okay, okay. Continue?" she relented, handing her another place

"Anyways," Marik started again, a little huffily, "she gave me a pendant so I could actually have a _conversation_ with him, and… he said we should hang out some time."

"That's great!" Isis said, smiling. "You're free Friday, you should tell him that."

Marik smiled. "Awesome!" she said before frowning and chuckling nervously. "He's, um, a Junior, is that okay?"

"Marik, a year is not a big difference," Isis said, chuckling slightly with amusement.

Marik made a scoffing noise. "But two years is, apparently," she said under her breath.

That one was a direct stab to Bakura's heart.

* * *

Instead of taking a nap like Marik was originally going to, she practiced her fighting techniques with her brother for an hour in their padded basement. A few times she accused him of holding back, and she always saw a raise in his skill when she did. Even with him supposedly using his full skill, however, she was able to beat him. Afterwards though, he gave her a few tips on what she seemed to be slacking on, and she practiced them for another half hour. By the end of the session she was sweating and red-faced, and when Marik looked at herself in a mirror for a few seconds Bakura felt like his face would have turned red too at the sight…

How the heck did hormones still affect him if he wasn't even in his body?-!

She then painted her nails with Isis before her sister left for her night guard job. A lot of laughter and girl talk ensued, which Bakura really could've spent the rest of his life without hearing. After that, she went up into her room and started drawing a fruit stand with a vendor that looked mysteriously like Jake saying, "Yes! We have no bananas!" while singing the humorous song under her breath. Once the picture was done, she started singing louder and jazzing the song up a bit, using a different rhythm and different notes. It sounded better than the original, Bakura thought, especially with Marik's voice.

She then proceeded to have her own little concert, where she sang whatever songs she felt like: musical songs, rock songs, swing songs, old songs, current songs - no genre was overlooked. Except rap.

Bakura enjoyed this private concern immensely, letting Marik's words wash over him and take his mind off of everything to the point where he forgot he wasn't in his own body anymore. For a while, he was transported back to the time where he could have physically been in her room right now, receiving such a delightful concert purposefully instead of unknowingly… And that thought made him just a little sad.

Soon, Marik headed outside to their meadow -

… No, it wasn't "their" meadow, anymore… he should stop referring to it like that…

She headed out to her beautiful meadow to watch the sunset, this time just running to her tree instead of taking her bike. Bakura could just imagine her shining face as she watched the sun slowly dip behind the horizon, pinks and blues mixing together in perfect harmony as oranges and yellows shined around, dazzling everything in sight.

"And so the sun has gone away," Marik whispered to herself, just like she did that morning, "but, like the rain, will come again another day."

As she said the words, Bakura realized just how much he wanted to be there with her at that moment… watching the sunset with her, teasing her for liking something that everyone else took for granted, hugging her, having her hit him when he said something "inappropriate" or "perverted." He wanted to spend time with her again, be her _friend_ again.

But he couldn't… Could he?

As Marik started to walk away since the sun set, Bakura made a promise to himself. Even if he couldn't be her friend again, he could still stop hurting her like he did today; he was determined to do this. He didn't care what his "friends" would think, he should have stuck with Marik all those years ago and dropped them instead. What the hell had he been thinking?

Once Marik got home she took a shower, which Bakura was extremely relieved to find that he skipped, just like that morning when she changed for school. She now donned dark blue, silk pajamas with adorable little frogs all over them, her hair wet and matted around her face because she didn't like to blow-dry her hair. "It'll dry naturally!" she always said.

"I wish my hair could dry quickly like that," Bakura would always answer. "But it's so thick that I think it'd take a week to dry without a blow dryer."

"Just ride your bike around!"

"And have my hair get all tangled? No thanks."

… Anyways, she then proceeded to snuggle up under her bed covers and read a very interesting book about a wizard and his quest to find the Fountain of Youth so that he could revert an aging spell that was cast on his friend by an evil witch. Bakura found _himself_ getting lost in the story, and also found that he read just a _little_ bit faster than Marik, much to his surprise. Eventually, the story came to a close with that dreaded, "To be continued…" sign at the end, and Marik's displeasure was obvious: "Ah, what?-!" she exclaimed. "Come on, he hasn't even gotten through the Valley of Veraciousness yet!" She dropped the book to the ground huffily before looking over at her alarm clock to see it was only 8:30pm. "Hm, I have a half hour till bed time, but I already finished that book… Extra sleep for me tonight, I guess," she said with a shrug before setting her alarm clock and turning her light off. "Have a good night's sleep, Marmikins," she muttered to herself with a British accent as she settled into her pillow.

Bakura's eyes widened so much that he thought they'd never be normal-sized again.

_I… I used to say that to her, every night, after sunset… _he thought to himself, happiness welling up inside him. _She still remembers… she remembers, even that stupid nickname I gave her, but what does that mean? I, I thought she hated me…_

He smiled to himself; if she still said that to herself before she went to bed… did that mean there _was_ a chance for them to be friends again? Did that mean… she wanted to be friends with him again? What did that mean…!

No matter what it meant, it _had_ to be good, right? She said it happily, not bitterly, so… it had to be good!

Bakura couldn't dwell on this anymore as his mind started fogging up, and he started to slip into unconsciousness along with Marik.

But would he wake up in his own body, or in Marik's again?

* * *

**Haha~! I hope you enjoyed ^^ Tell me what you think about this chapter! Like it? Hate it? Is it perfect? Anything you think I should change/could work on? Favorite moments? Least favorite moments? I love your opinions~**

**Btw, "Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an actual song by "Spike Jones and his City Slickers," though there's also a Muppet version in German, I believe. Either one is highly amusing, I'd suggest you looking it up on YouTube XD I love singing it~**

**I also hope none of you are annoyed by the OC Jake. Trust me, he doesn't interfere with the Thiefshipping forever, just… for a little bit *smirks* But while I'm talking about Jake, tell me if you think his actions are sincere or **_**devious**_** *laughs maniacally* **

**Review please~ ^-^ **

~~~{REVIEW REPLIES!}~~~

**xXFlorence4everXx**: Haha, yes, last chapter's ending was certainly interesting XD What did you think of this one? Kukuku~ And thank you so much!-! But, I have to say, there are much better Thiefshipping writers than me XD I'm glad you like my stories so much though!-! It makes me happy to hear :3

I will try to update AVS and RSL some time!-!-!-!-! I just… just… don't know _when_, exactly, I… *cries* Gomenasaaaaaaiiiii! TT_TT

I shall prevail and stay awesome!-! I SHALL! XD Haha, thank you for reviewing though, I really liked it =)

**MadRayTer**: XD Haha, I think Marik made "that sucker" pay without even knowing it in this chapter! *laughs*

… Well, I didn't update soon for this story, and, um, AVS might take awhile (fluff doesn't just happen, ya know!) but, um… At least I updated? *facepalm*

I will definitely keep writing!-!-! Haha, thanks for the review =)

**OMAI**: XD Relax Cupcake, 'cause this is another semi-cliffhanger! MUA HA HA HA HAA!-!-!

I'm glad you couldn't stop reading though, Cupcake~ And yes, I end the chapter like that, and I am NOT Katniss!-! I can't shoot arrows or hunt :P That fits you better. YOU ARE THE UKE, THIS BATTLE WILL GO ON AND ON!-!-!


	4. Trying His Hardest

**I bet none of you expected this chapter so soon XD **

**Thank you very much to Shadow Realm triforce, Aqua girl 007, anime-on-replay, Xochiquetzai, Zekione, OMAI, Thiefshipping FTW, ChoasWolf, Lita of the Dancing Flames, wolfairer, and MadrayTer for reviewing! Each and every one inspired me to hurry up and **_**write**_**, which is why you're seeing this so soon XD**

**I'm super happy with myself that I was able to finish this today, so I don't want to hold you up any longer! :3**

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Trying His Hardest **_(someone please give me a better title when you're done reading this XP)

Bakura sat up from his bed almost in a panic, breathing heavily with his heart pounding as his eyes dashed wildly back and forth to try and make sense of his surroundings.

He was in his own dark blue bed, enclosed by his own white walls and tan carpet, and surrounded by his own mess…

_Was it just a dream?_ he asked himself as he held a hand up to his head, trying to calm himself down. _But it seemed so real…_ He looked over at his alarm clock and just managed to see it flip from midnight to 12:01am. The time reminded him that he still had homework to do, and since there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep, he got up and walked over to his backpack, his mind still stuck on his "dream."

_It had to be a dream_, he thought to himself. _Things like that don't happen… not in the real world. But… it was very realistic, and I could _feel_ everything. Usually you don't feel physically in dreams, and how would I have been able to come up with all that anyways?_

The more he debated whether or not it was a dream, the more he told himself that it _happened_. And, once he accepted this as a fact, he felt horrible again. Seeing Marik like that… he wasn't used to it. He had taken for granted that she was strong, that she could take anything and handle it, that she wasn't one to dwell on anything. He had taken it for granted and ended up probably hurting her worse than anyone else could've done.

He vaguely remembered his thought process back in ninth grade; people had been teasing Marik for being associated with someone two years older than her - for having a "crush" on someone two years older than her -, and Bakura had hated it. He knew she was strong and could handle the comments, but he hated that she was getting teased because of him, so he tried to cut off any relations with her… hoping that would help. But what started as purely a selfless goal turned into something meaner… Through the years, he forgot what had made Marik special and had become one of the tormentors he had been trying to save Marik from.

_Even when I had first started out teasing her I felt bad about it, but I told myself that she probably didn't care about a word I said…_

"Marik" and "strong" had always ran together in Bakura's mind; he didn't think that his comments would - or _could_ - get to her so much, which kind of eased the guilt he felt in the beginning. But now… he felt like he was being suffocated under his guilt. Seeing just what his comments did to her, every time… _What the hell was I thinking?_

"There's no way I'm going to be able to do my homework…" Bakura muttered to himself as he stared at his Trigonometry. Even as he stared at the figures he remembered Marik, and how she was a grade ahead for math… and in an advanced history course. He smiled as he remembered how much she enjoyed history, almost as much as she enjoyed the sun rising and falling. "_They say history's important so you don't repeat your mistakes_," he mumbled Marik's words to himself, "_plus, it's interesting to see what people did!_"

He shook his head and tried to focus back on his homework, frowning a bit. If he didn't get this done, it'd be bad for his grade, and he didn't want the school to call his mom to inform her that her son was failing Trig. She'd probably force him to sit down with her so she could give a "motherly lecture." _Some mother you've been_, he thought coldly to himself, finding that now he was glad to do his homework as an escape from those less-than-pleasant thoughts.

* * *

At three AM he took a shower, being sure to use extra body wash as he remembered just how bad he smelled, and as the water trailed down his body he asked himself one question; _What now?_

Now that he knew how Marik reacted to his words, what was he going to do about it? In the "dream" it had seemed simple; he'd stop teasing her and be nice to her and all that jazz, but… how? And what if when he started being nice to her again, people started teasing her again? Then he'd be back to square one. Besides, why would she believe his actions were sincere? If he didn't do this right, he might just end up making her cry again…

And that thought tore him up inside.

Another thing were his "friends." They'd find it odd if he told them he didn't want to tease Marik anymore. They usually went out of their way to find the girl too, just so Bakura and him alone could tease her. If he showed disinterest in doing that they might automatically assume that he liked her again and start tormenting her again, since Bakura wasn't going to anymore, and that would bring him back to square one _again_.

"Maybe I could convince them she's just not worth it anymore…?" he said to himself, immediately feeling a pit form in his stomach. _God, that sounds horrible. She's not even worth acknowledging? It might be the only way to stop _them_ from hurting her, though…_

He sighed, wishing that everything could just go back to the way it was before he came to high school. _That_ was when everything changed, _that's_ when it all turned downhill.

But who's fault was that?

Why couldn't he have just stood up to those guys back in freshman year? When they first started showing animosity for his relationship with Marik… why couldn't he have just ditched them then? Why _didn't_ he? He might have been outnumbered with three against one, or two if he counted Marik (although since she was two grades below him she wouldn't see them as much as he would), but he could hold his own ground; they rarely got physical anyways. And he probably could have found some others to back him up. He should've rebelled long ago… Why didn't he?-?

… Oh, that's right, he didn't want to be labeled as a "nerd" or an "outcast" because of his _own_ appearance.

Why was he so selfish?

"_If you don't wanna be friends with us_," TV's words echoed in Bakura's ears, "_then I'm sure the mathletes or the theater-geeks would _love_ to have you._"

"No," Bakura muttered, repeating the answer, "I wanna be your friend…

"The stupidest thing I've ever said in my life."

Bakura scoffed to himself. Everyone had always told him that high school was only four years of his life, that once he was out it wouldn't matter how "cool" you were, or what "awesome" things you did… but Bakura had always been one to dwell on the present, not the past or the future. Like most teenagers he was obsessed with image, and to be "shunned" to the geeks or nerds was distasteful to him. That didn't fit him - he was a troublemaker, but at the same time he wasn't…

"Just be yourself," he muttered the words to himself, frowning. "I think Marik's the only one who really grasped that…"

He took a deep breath, telling himself something that he always told himself: "Just do what you want." Whatever happened would happen… All he could do was try to make it _good_.

Turning the water off, he stepped out and dried himself off, being sure to put on plenty of deodorant. The thought to put on cologne briefly entered his mind before he decided against it; most colognes made him feel sick when he smelled them. For clothes he wore a black T-shirt with jeans, since most of his wardrobe consisted of black clothing. He might want to change that soon…

He started packing his backpack for school when he remembered something else - something that he had buried in one of his drawers in tenth grade… He dug through them all, cursing himself for how messy they were, and eventually found what he was looking for: a little charm bracelet that Marik had made him when she was in sixth grade. It started out with dark blue beads, then it got lighter with purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows, all leading up to the golden sun charm at the end. She made this for him because they enjoyed watching the sunset together…

"I was thinking of using the heart charm," she had admitted when she gave him the bracelet, looking down with a pink hue in her cheeks. "But, um, that's overrated! You know? Besides, we're friends and this fits us better…"

He could still remember her dazzling smile after he kissed her on the cheek and thanked her for the wonderful gift.

He shook his head as he slipped the priceless accessory over his wrist, smiling since it still fit him perfectly.

* * *

_What am I doing here?_ Bakura thought to himself as his heartbeat struck his ears. _This is stupid, I should just go…_ and yet, his feet didn't move a muscle. He stayed hidden in the bushes that outlined Marik's meadow, watching for the sun to rise but also waiting for Marik to show up… _And then what, idiot?_ he scolded himself. _Like hell she'd want to see you _here _of all places!_

He forced himself into stillness as he saw Marik biking leisurely into the meadow, the sun nowhere in sight. At first, he was happy to see her, but then he noticed one, small detail.

Her hair was up in a ponytail.

He ground his teeth in anger, remembering _Jake,_ and how he told her she'd look "better with her hair up." Obviously he couldn't see that Marik looked good either way, the idiot. "Coming here early is the best~," she sang to herself as she stepped off her bike and propped it up. She walked over to her weeping willow tree and flattened her dark blue, studded skirt before sitting against the base. "Now to sit back, relax, and wait for the show," she continued, putting her hands behind her head and sighing contentedly. The complete opposite of Bakura, who's heart was racing a million miles an hour as he came to the realization of just how bad this situation seemed. He was practically stalking her like this… what if she saw him? That would be _very _bad… Should he just show himself? What would happen then? What would she do?

_She'd probably just call me a pervert and bike away…_ he thought to himself, grinning a little, but the grin faded as he realized that's only what she'd do if they were still friends…

He stopped thinking when Marik said sadly, "I remembered why I don't come here early anymore…" She looked down, dropping her arms back to her side and sighing, making Bakura wonder just what she was talking about. Why didn't she come here early anymore? She used to love waiting for the sunrise with him -

… Oh… She's lonely?

Bakura bit his lip as he debated whether or not to show himself. If she really was lonely, she'd enjoy the company, right? But not if it was _his_… He sighed, covering his mouth right away and ducking down, swearing to himself and hoping she hadn't heard that.

"Hello?" Marik called.

_Damn it_.

"Hey, I _heard_ you!" she said, this time showing anger. "Just come on out, whoever you are. But be warned, if you're a creep I'll kick your but!"

_Not a creep or a pervert, just an old friend…_

Silence stretched on for awhile until it was broken by Marik's quiet voice, "Maybe I'm imagining things…"

_Oh thank goodness…_ Bakura thought to himself in relief. He wasn't sure what exactly would happen if Marik saw him right now, but he knew it probably wouldn't be good.

Marik sighed again. "Or maybe I'm just that desperate for company. "Hello, Mr. Pervert,"" she began, going into an obviously fake voice, ""care to watch the sunrise with me before I kick your but and alert the authorities of your existence? No? You'd rather just kidnap me and miss out on natural beauty? Well… screw you, then,"" she finished, shaking her head. Meanwhile, Bakura was covering his mouth and trying not to blow his cover by hysterically laughing. Silent laughing hurts though, and soon his chest ached terribly. _Damn it Marik, stop being funny!_

A few more minutes passed like this - with Marik just leaning against the tree in silence and Bakura trying not to laugh -, but then she whispered something that Bakura couldn't make out. It sounded sad though, really, really sad… and it depressed him. _Don't be sad anymore…_ he found himself pleading. _And please, please don't cry again…_

He didn't have to worry too hard though, as she soon stood up and faced the willow tree, curtsying to it slightly. "Dear Mr. Willow," she began, making Bakura smile.

_Don't tell me she's doing _that_ old thing?_ he thought, being interrupted by Marik continuing with:

"I do so hope that you will forever keep what I just said a secret between you and I, as it is a secret that I do not want anyone else to know of. Thank you kindly, Mr. Willow."

Bakura chuckled to himself as she sat down and leaned against the willow again, remembering when they first addressed the tree. Marik had been talking about how they were the only two that knew about this meadow and that it was their special spot, and that they could tell each other anything and everything here. Bakura, being the sarcastic person that he is, just _had_ to tell her that another person knew of this place and knew all their secrets, and that was the willow tree. Marik, being the childish person _she_ was, then bowed to the tree and said what she just said now, only instead of "between you and I" it had been "between you and us"… She did this every time they were done sharing a secret, switching up the phrase slightly every time to fit the situation, and sometimes she even made Bakura ask the willow to keep their secret.

_Well, whatever she whispered must have been pretty important then_, Bakura thought to himself just as the sun's rays started peaking over the horizon.

"Yes! Let the show begin!-!" Marik said excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. Bakura just grinned at her, now wanting more than ever to be next to her again. Back in the day he'd probably tickle her to bring her arm back down, and then she'd hit him before turning her attention back on to the sun. _I remember when I used to be jealous of that sun_, he thought to himself, chuckling. _Getting Marik's full attention twice a day without fail. _

"_The sun is shining so bright,_" Marik started singing, making Bakura smile even more. "_Rising up and showing the li~ight! It's here to rule the day, yes, it is here to stay, I can't wait to see the day it has in mind._"

_I guess she greets the sun differently every time_, Bakura thought to himself with a smile.

Marik took a deep, calming breath as the sun-risen colors danced in the sky, letting it out slowly before saying, "I feel like today's gonna be a great day… I wonder why."

_Hopefully I have something to do with that…_

* * *

Bakura didn't feel like going home after watching the sunset with Marik - okay, maybe "with" isn't the right word, but you know what I mean -, so instead he decided to walk to school. He didn't want to get there too early though, so he walked slowly, and still managed to get there an hour and a half before school started. "Great, now what?" he mumbled to himself as he walked to his locker and swapped out his books. He supposed if he had stopped back home and eaten breakfast that he wouldn't be in this predicament, but… he didn't really want his mom to question why he was coming back inside. After all, he hadn't gone to see the sunrise since ninth grade…

He sighed as he looked at the bracelet he decided to wear today, already feeling self-conscious about it. _What will Marik even think when she sees it?_ he thought to himself. _I mean, I rarely wore this thing before… _That much was true; Marik knew that Bakura didn't like to wear any jewelry or anything. He didn't even like wearing watches 'cause he felt like they restricted his hands, so she wasn't offended when he didn't wear it a lot. Especially since Bakura told her that he much preferred just to stare at it and think of her as he fell asleep.

He took a deep breath before closing his locker and looking down the empty hallway. He wondered what he should do for the next hour and a half before he remembered Marik and Ryou's "sanctuary"…

Did he really have the right to go there?

_Well, it _is_ one of the school's pavilions_, he told himself, _it's open to anyone who wants to go there… _He found himself walking towards it, already deciding to be a "creeper" again and just watch whatever they did.

_What have I turned in to?_

Soon he arrived to the hallway that overlooked the courtyard, seeing that Marik was leaning against the same cherry tree as yesterday while Ryou was… standing over a laying Kilam?-! What was _he_ doing there?

Bakura ducked down and peeked over the window, knowing that he couldn't actually go _outside_, since they would see him then. It really sucked too, 'cause he couldn't here anything that they were saying. From the looks of it though, it seemed Ryou was using some sort of "spell" on Kilam, as she was holding an old-looking book and waving her hands wildly in the air before kneeling down and laying her palm flat on his chest. They stayed like that for a minute, during which Ryou turned to Marik with a smile and said something before laughing, Marik echoing her.

Kilam stood up as soon as Ryou took her hand off him, shaking her hand before she hugged him. _What the hell was going on?_ Bakura thought as he saw Kilam walk over to Marik and bow slightly, much to Marik's evident surprise. _Is this why he doesn't really tease Marik? She sees him like this? _Bakura thought before he saw Marik shake her head and wave her hands in a dispelling manner, yelling something at him before pouting. Kilam just nodded before walking away and waving at them, Ryou waving back very enthusiastically before she ran over to Marik and jumped up and down, making Bakura chuckle slightly. Did she like Kilam? It certainly seemed like it, since Marik said something that made the pale girl blush and mock-kick her. He could faintly hear the "Shut up!" she yelled at her friend.

"Hey," a voice suddenly announced in Bakura's ears, making him jump in surprise.

"Kilam!" Bakura exclaimed, turning to smile weakly at him. "Hey…"

Kilam was squatting down next to Bakura, smiling slightly before nodding his head towards Marik and Ryou. "You saw that, huh?"

"Yeah, what was that?"

"Therapy session."

"… Therapy session?"

Kilam simply nodded before sitting down and crossing his legs. Bakura copied him before he continued, "Every Tuesday morning the pale girl, Ryou -"

"I know her name."

Kilam seemed a little surprised. "Oh. Well, every morning she gives me some kind of Magic Therapy, as she calls it. She was in my old school too, and she took an interest in my… "problem," deciding that she wanted to help." Kilam smiled slightly before adding, "I don't know what she does, but it helps somehow. I was happy when I heard she was moving here with me."

Bakura creased his eyebrows. "That's… odd," he said. "But I guess if it helps then I approve." _Better than not feeling anything at all_.

Kilam chuckled. "You're not usually here this early," he commented, successfully changing the subject.

"I couldn't sleep," Bakura said, only telling half of the truth. But really, what else was he supposed to say? If he told him about his "out-of-body" experience, would he even believe him? He sure wouldn't have.

Kilam frowned. "I hate insomnia. I have some leftover pills for that, do you want them?"

Bakura shook his head. "No thanks. You used to have insomnia?"

Kilam nodded, scowling slightly. "Yeah… it sucked. But I'm not supposed to dwell on unhappy things." He took a deep breath, his face relaxing back into an unemotional mask as he exhaled.

"You have a lot of restrictions, huh?"

"Yeah. But it's not so bad," Kilam said, shrugging. He smiled suddenly before admitting, "I'm not even allowed to own anything red."

Bakura creased his eyebrows in confusion. That's an odd thing to ban him from. "Why?"

"Reminds me of fire too much."

"Fire?"

Kilam nodded. "When I get angry I have a tendency to start lighting things up."

Bakura was surprised, to say the least. "Oh… that's why you have such heavy medication."

"Yep." They sat there in silence for a minute before Kilam told him, "You're one of the few who reacts to this information calmly."

Bakura shrugged. "You seem fine to me."

Kilam actually started laughing, and it made Bakura happy to see that he could still _laugh_. "Is there anything that could make you stop being my friend?"

"Nope."

"What if I told you I was gay?"

"Aw, I was kind of hoping you and Ryou would hook up," Bakura said with a laugh.

Kilam's eyes widened. "Me?" he asked, pointing at himself. "With Ryou?" He pointed at the window before moving his hand to his chin in thought. His eyes clouded over before he said, "I don't think it'd work out."

"Why not?"

He frowned, looking sad all of a sudden. "We're too different. I destroy, she heals. It doesn't work."

Bakura stared at him for a minute. It sounded like he _did_ like Ryou, but had thoroughly convinced himself that they could never be together. But from what he just saw, it seemed like Ryou kind of liked him, although her excitement could have been for something else, like if she felt he was improving or whatnot. But.. she blushed, didn't that usually mean you liked someone and just didn't want to admit it? Besides, had Kilam ever even asked her to hang out or anything? Probably not, from the way he sounded. Bakura found himself becoming angry now; the only thing stopping them from hooking up or whatever was himself! Why didn't he take the chance?

"Have you ever tried to ask her out?" Bakura finally asked.

Kilam shook his head before smiling slightly. "Love isn't at the top of my agenda. Besides, I'd rather like to hear about your relationship with Marik." He leaned over, putting his elbows on his legs so he could rest his head in his hands, grinning.

Bakura scowled. "No." _You just wanted to change the subject_…

"Oh come on, tell me a story."

"Why are you so curious about us?" He was starting to become annoyed by Kilam's constant questioning about him and Marik.

"Is it wrong to be curious?"

Bakura sighed. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"What do you like most about her? Or, you know, used to like most."

Bakura hesitated for a very long time, thinking over his answer carefully. _What do I like _most_? _he asked himself, biting his bottom lip. "… How she," he began, pausing and scrunching his eyebrows together as he tried to figure out how to phrase this. "How she's always herself, I guess."

Kilam raised an eyebrow. "But now you tease her for being herself."

Guilt attacked Bakura once more, making him look down at the ground. He didn't have anything to answer with, since it was true.

"Well," Kilam said, standing up and stretching. "I'm gonna walk around a bit. Wanna join me?"

"… Yeah."

* * *

"Hey, there she is," TV said to Bakura, nodding in Marik's direction. Bakura looked over, swallowing once he saw her. _It's now or never_… he thought, looking at his three "friends" that had caught up with him and Kilam earlier. _Let's see if I can pull this off._

"You know guys," Bakura said nonchalantly, shrugging, "I'm not really in the mood today."

"What?" Glen asked, "but you're always in the mood!"

Bakura gave a realistic yawn. "I'm just tired, all right? Lay off."

"Come on dude, if we lighten up who knows what she'll think?" TV encouraged, putting his arm around Bakura's shoulders, who scowled.

"She'll probably just think we forgot or something," he said, shrugging the arm off. "Come on, is she really worth so much worrying?"

"That's a good point," Duke said, shrugging.

TV sighed. "All right, fine."

Bakura had to hold back a smile. _Success!_ But even as he smiled to himself, he knew this was only a temporary solution… there was still tomorrow and all the days after to deal with them. He sighed and happened to glance at Kilam just then, who was raising his eyebrow at him in an unspoken question. He could imagine what he wanted to ask…

"Hey!" Glen said suddenly, tapping TV on the shoulder. "There's that ten you've had your eye on," he said, nodding his head towards… _No way_, Bakura thought as he stared at the blonde, Barbie _bitch_ that teased Marik about a "sex-change" operation yesterday. Bakura scoffed to himself, _Well, they'd be perfect for each other_.

"She's fiiiine," TV said, smirking and nodding his head.

Bakura creased his eyebrows as a thought randomly came to him. "Wait, what grade is she in?"

"Tenth grade."

Bakura turned to Kilam, who had been the one to supply the answer. He saw him grinning, but all Bakura could feel was anger. "I thought two years was too big of an age difference…?" he asked TV through grinded teeth.

The boy's answer made Bakura start clenching his fists in concealed rage. "Yeah, but if we're going by looks she's in _college_."

Bakura found himself grinning and chuckling a bit as he looked down, the smile not reaching the fire in his eyes. He closed his eyes then, clenching his fists so tight that there were marks in his palm and grinding his teeth so hard that he was probably going to need braces. "Well, why don't you go talk to her, then?" he managed to say, concealing most of his anger.

Luckily, TV wasn't too bright and didn't notice Bakura's mood. "Don't mind if I do," he said before walking over and talking to a _tenth grader_. The same grade that _Marik_ was in. The same grade that was supposed to be _too young_ for them.

Bakura watched Glen and Duke follow after TV while he just stood still, certain that if he moved that he'd punch the closest person in the face.

"Here," Kilam said suddenly, handing Bakura a thick popsicle stick. He just stared at it for a minute before looking up at the taller boy's purple eyes. "Bit into it. It'll help with the anger a little."

Bakura didn't speak as he grabbed the thing and placed it on his bottom teeth, biting into it _hard_. As he did so, he couldn't help but think about how _stupid_ this all was. So, it all just came down to looks? Did personality not count for _anything_ anymore? Because if they were going by personality Marik was too old for _anyone_.

_I'm going to _kill_ him,_ Bakura thought suddenly. _I could have been with Marik all this time…! Age doesn't mean _shit_ to them! They just thought she wasn't "hot" enough!-! You _bastards_!_

"You okay?" Kilam asked, alerting Bakura to the fact that he had bitten the popsicle stick so hard that it cracked in half.

He took it out and started spitting out little wooden bits before saying, "_Peachy_."

Kilam chuckled then. "That must have grinded your gears, hm?"

Bakura shook his head. "You have no idea."

"What are you wearing?"

"What?" Bakura turned to Kilam with creased eyebrows before remembering the bracelet he was wearing. "Oh, Marik made it for me back when… you know."

Kilam chuckled and pointed behind Bakura's shoulder, so he turned around to see that Marik was talking to _Jake_, and twirling her ponytail around playfully. "She'll probably make one of those for him soon, you think?"

Bakura ground his teeth again. "Why should I care?" he said, wincing at how… _pathetic_ he sounded. It was obvious he cared, why did he even try to pretend anymore?

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Kilam asked.

Bakura turned his head to him so fast that he felt a little whiplash. "Are you crazy?"

Kilam grinned a little. "What could it hurt?"

"Um, we're not exactly on "speaking terms." Were you even here yesterday?"

Kilam leaned down and made it so that their noses were almost touching. "Do you want to repair your relationship with her?" he whispered, staring into Bakura's eyes intensely.

Bakura swallowed before whispering back, "Yes… but -"

"_But_," Kilam interrupted, "that's not going to happen unless you make a move."

"And what am I supposed to say?"

"I'm sorry?" Kilam offered, smiling and standing back up.

Bakura frowned. "What if she doesn't believe me?"

"Then try, try again!" Kilam responded, smiling more.

Bakura rolled his eyes before he noticed Ryou out of the corner of his eyes. He smirked before poking Kilam in the chest and staring into _his_ eyes intensely now. "Okay, I'll talk to Marik if you talk to Ryou."

Kilam frowned then. "We're not focusing on my relationships -"

"_I_ am."

Kilam sighed before agreeing. "Fine. But you better talk to her."

"I will," Bakura said with a smile before turning around and walking towards Marik. He faltered when he saw her laughing with Jake though, a pit forming in his stomach. _She's over me_, he thought to himself disconsolately. _She likes Jake now, we couldn't even be friends -_

"_Have a good night's sleep, Marmikins_."

… He quickened his pace as he remembered Marik's words before she went to sleep last night. And, much to his relief, Jake actually waved to Marik in goodbye before walking off right before he came up to her. She just kind of smiled after Jake for a few seconds though, which made Bakura a little annoyed, but then she finally noticed him, her face hardening as she stared at him. "What do you want?" she asked coldly. "Here to make fun of my hair since it's up today? Give me your best shot."

Bakura opened his mouth to say something clever or witty yet nice and maybe even complimentary, but all that came out was, "Uh…" He tried to say something else, he _really_ did, but as he stared at Marik's guarded, violet eyes, all that he could think of was _She _really_ fucking hates my guts…_

Marik scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "Um, helloooo?"

Bakura shook his head a little and gave a half-hearted grin. "… I'm sorry," he finally said, thinking about all the crap he must have put her through, and all the times he must have made her cry…

"Don't mention it. I'm used to you being a dim-witted idiot."

Bakura laughed, surprised at how he didn't feel hurt at all. "Step up from pervert," he said before thinking, smiling at her.

Marik's jaw slacked a little in surprise as she stared at Bakura, her cold demeanor dropping slightly. "… No, you're that too," she said after a little bit, tilting her head slightly.

Bakura chuckled a bit before staring into her eyes again, biting his bottom lip. "But I mean it, I… I'm sorry."

Marik's stood so still that for a second Bakura thought she had turned into a statue somehow, but suddenly her eyes started watering and she shoved her books into his chest so hard that the breath was knocked out of him. "Fuck you, Bakura," she said through her teeth, a single teardrop falling before she fast-walked away from him, wiping at her eyes furiously and not daring to look up. Bakura just stared after her, feeling like crying himself as he noticed she was headed straight for the bathroom…

_I knew she wouldn't believe me_, he thought to himself, swallowing to try and get rid of the clog in his throat. _All I did was make her cry _again…

He ran a hand through his hair, taking a shallow breath before he turned and started walking to his own class, grinding his teeth in anger as he saw TV with his arms around that Barbie bitch's waist.

* * *

Before Bakura knew it, lunchtime arrived. He was thoroughly fed up with TV and the rest, wanting to never even _see_ them again, so he was sitting with Kilam. He wasn't hungry enough to eat anything though, as he had been ripping himself throughout all his classes about how much of an idiot he was, and how all he did was cause Marik pain and how he should just leave her alone and how much of a big fat _jerk_ he was and etc. etc. etc. The point was, he was just stabbing his macaroni and cheese while pretending it was TV's face. _Your blood's looking a little yellow there, TV,_ he thought to himself, attacking one particular noodle until it turned into little particles of grain. _Maybe you should get that checked out, along with you and Barbie girl's _bitch diseases_!_

"Do you want some of my anger management pills?" Kilam asked, smiling amusedly. "I have a few extra; the doctor said I should take them if I manage to get too angry -"

"Does he monitor how many are gone when you see him next?"

"Yes -"

"Then don't give me one."

Kilam grinned. "Thanks for being concerned about me, but I'm genuinely afraid you're about to go kill someone. Probably with that fork."

"Don't tempt me."

Kilam chuckled. "I'm guessing your talk with Marik didn't go so well this morning?"

Bakura stopped stabbing his lunch long enough to run a hand through his hair again as he looked down, ashamed. "I made her _cry_, Kilam. _Cry!_"

"… Oh…" was all the tan boy said, frowning. "… I'm sorry."

Bakura took a deep breath, letting his fork drop against his pitiful, mangled food. "Don't be. I hope your talk with Ryou went better than mine."

Kilam smiled slightly, but it was obvious he was still concerned about Bakura. "It did. We laughed and such… I found out she likes occult things." He grinned before saying this next part, "and then she told me that I seemed pretty occult and blushed a little."

Bakura chuckled. "So, by the transitive property, she pretty much said she likes you?"

Kilam chuckled and nodded. "I hope so." He frowned a bit and leaned forward, whispering, "Say, I meant to ask, but… why didn't you want to make fun of Marik this morning? Did my words from yesterday sink in?"

Bakura stared at him before grabbing up his fork and actually picking up a mouthful of noodles. "Remember when you said that something "changed your perspective" or whatever?"

Kilam's smile grew until Bakura thought he almost looked as happy as _Marik_ usually looked. "Yes…?"

"… Well, that happened to me."

Kilam nodded almost satisfactorily. "That's good to hear. Keep it up, I'll be rooting for you."

"And I'll be rooting for you to get off that damn medication of yours," Bakura said with a smirk. "It's really been downgraded, hasn't it? You're smiling a lot more lately."

"There's a lot more to be happy about lately," he said, grinning. His eyes wandered over Bakura's head before he waved slightly, so Bakura turned around to see Ryou sitting at a table pretty far away from them, waving back at Kilam while giggling. He also happened to catch eyes with Marik for a second before she glared at him and turned back to the table. He sighed and brought his face back to the macaroni, eating his forkful before resuming his stabbing spree.

* * *

Bakura went to his next class with just a little more focus than before, only he skipped out a few minutes early by faking a "vomit-scare" so he could stop by the music room and maybe talk to Marik when she came out. He could only hope that he wouldn't make her _cry_ again… and that she'd actually stay to talk to him for a bit.

He waited right outside the music room door, listening to all the teenagers singing and smiling, finding it easy to pick out Marik's voice from all the rest. _Use those pipes, Marik_, he thought, chuckling to himself, _they're so beautiful…_

"Is going through all this trouble really necessary?" Bakura heard an unfamiliar voice say. His heart skipped a beat as he looked around for a place to hide, thinking that it was a teacher on patrol duty. _Shit! I don't want a detention!-!_ He ducked into one of the five, small practice rooms that were next to the main music room. He was about to close the door when he heard another voice say, "Of course, man. Marik's not an _idiot_."

_Wait a minute, that's _Jake_! _Bakura thought, his eyes narrowing in suspicious as he listened intently, his ear pressed against the door crack now.

"Listen," Jake continued, "if I ask her to tutor me now, she'll just think I started talkin' to her so I wouldn't fail Algebra -"

"But that _is_ why you started talking to her."

"Yeah, but I can't let _her_ know that."

Bakura ground his teeth in anger. _I knew he was up to no good…!_ he thought to himself, wishing that he had taken Kilam up on his offer for a pill now.

"Why didn't you just ask her to tutor you then?" the other guy said, obviously confused. "Wouldn't that have been faster? I mean, I thought you didn't like her…"

"Everyone knows you'll work harder to do something for someone you like," Jake answered back almost cockily. "Especially if they think they have a shot with 'em. Besides, I kinda wonder what a girl like that'll taste like."

Bakura started shaking with rage when he heard that. He clenched his fists so tightly that he thought he'd have to go to the hospital to get them out of that position. _You are a fucking_ bastard!_ You're worse than TV!-! _It took all the control he had not to come out of his hiding spot and start beating the bloody _life_ out of this fucking asshole. _I hope Marik finds out just how much of a jerk you are…_ he couldn't help but think to himself.

"I don't know man," his _much smarter_ friend, Bakura couldn't help but distinguish them, started to say. "I think it would have been better to just ask her to tutor you outright. I mean, I heard she's pretty tough… what if she finds out you're using her?"

"Have you seen the way she looks at me? Like she'd ever hurt me."

"Dude, I heard she broke some guy's arm for _whistling_ at her."

Bakura couldn't help but grin at that. _Sounds like her._

"Well, then I'll have to make sure she won't find out. Come on, she has the highest Algebra grade. I need her to tutor me so I can play in next week's game -"

"I think your life is more important than basketball, man."

"Look, are you gonna help me with the plan or not?"

"Whatever, man. Whatever."

Bakura saw him pass his hiding spot just as the bell rang. "It's show time," Jake said to his friend with a smirk, rubbing his hands together before he fixed his hair. "Go around the corner and wait for the signal."

His friend rolled his eyes before following orders, jogging to the corner just as the first student walked out. It wasn't long before Bakura saw Marik walk out, scowling when he noticed how her face lit up once she saw Jake. _If only you knew his true motives…_

"Hey, Jake!" she said, grinning. "Do you even attend your classes?"

He laughed. "I swear I do!" He held a hand out to her before asking, "Mind if I carry your books for you?"

Marik blushed slightly. "Only if you don't trip like you did this morning."

"Aw, come on, that was a one-time thing!"

Marik giggled a bit before handing her books over and walking forward. "Okay, I'll believe you." They walked down the hall, Bakura wishing he could warn Marik about this _jerk_, but thinking rationally enough to know that there was no way she'd believe him. She'd probably think he was just trying to ruin something that made her happy, which was actually the exact _opposite_ of what he'd actually be _trying_ to do. _Damn it, how am I supposed to warn her?_

"Hey, man!" Jake's friend said, walking up to them before all three of them disappeared around the corner. Bakura ducked out of the practice room then and tailed them, being careful not to be seen as he spied on their conversation to see what this "plan" was.

"Hey Martin!" Jake greeted, waving slightly. He gestured to Marik before saying, "Have you met the _lovely_ Miss Marik?"

Marik put a hand over her mouth, laughing, but all Bakura wanted to do was gag. _Oh for Pete's sake…_

Martin bowed slightly to her before saying. "No, I have not. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

"The pleasure is all mine," Marik replied with a laugh as she held out her hand daintily, laughing more in disbelief as Martin kissed her hand.

Bakura felt like pulling his hair out at that point.

"Anyways dude," Martin started, staring at Jake. "I was just wondering if you were prepared for that math test Friday."

Jake groaned. "Man, don't even get me started. I'll probably fail that thing with flying colors."

"Are you having trouble with math?" Marik asked, a little surprised.

Jake sighed, but it sounded so _fake! _… Or maybe only Bakura noticed. "Yeah, I just don't get all this algebra stuff."

Marik grinned a bit as she said, "You know, I'm pretty good with algebra, maybe I could help you?"

"You'd do that?" Jake asked in, again, a very _fake-_sounding surprised voice. But Bakura had to admit, his plan was pretty good. Have _Marik_ offer to tutor him, that way it didn't look suspicious. _You clever bastard…_ he thought to himself bitterly.

"Sure!" Marik said, smiling brighter. "We could meet up during homeroom in the library, sound good?"

Jake smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a date."

Bakura had to walk away at this point; he couldn't take another word of this, this, _twaddle_ anymore. _Marik… you have no idea that he's using you_, he thought sadly, frowning. _And I can't just _tell_ you about it, you won't believe me…_ He sighed. What was he supposed to do? He ran a hand through his hair for the third time that day, sighing to himself. The only thing he could think of doing was to spy on them during their "study date," but that wouldn't accomplish much… At least he could make sure he didn't try anything though, like, heaven forbid, _kissing_ her…

The very thought of such a thing made Bakura feel sick to his stomach. And also feel like beating him to a bloody pulp.

* * *

Bakura shut his front door quietly when he came home, still lost in his thoughts of how to help Marik. He scowled, however, when he heard his mom say, "Welcome home, sweetie! How was school!"

"Terrible," he responded before walking up the stairs.

"Wanna talk about it?" his mother's "caring" voice called to him.

"Not with you!" Bakura said before slamming his door. He took a deep breath before dropping his backpack on his bed, plopping down next to it as his thoughts resumed on how to reveal _Jake_ for the _scum_ he was. _Maybe I could record him admitting he's using her…? Nah, she'd think I faked it. Plus, I don't have a recorder_.

He groaned when he heard a knock at his door. "Bakura, honey… I'd like to see you, please."

"Just go away!" Bakura said angrily. _You're a failure as a mother, just leave me alone! That's what you did before!-! You fucking left me! You left me to deal with myself all alone! …_

… _Just like I did with_… Marik…

Bakura felt his eyes start watering as the image of Marik saying "Fuck you" with tears in her eyes came to his mind.

… _I was actually trying to be nice to her, after four years of being nothing but mean_… he thought, guilt growing in his stomach. _Just like my mom's really trying to be a mother after all this time… and I won't even giver her the chance._ He looked at his door and frowned. _If I can't forgive my own mother when she's trying so hard, how can I ever expect Marik to forgive me…?_ He took a deep breath before standing up and opening his door slightly, looking up at his mother through the thing opening he made. She had tears in his eyes… He swore at himself and bit his bottom lip, feeling absolutely terrible now. _Can I do nothing but make people cry?-!_

"… Need help with dinner?" he asked, looking down at the ground.

He saw his mother smile sadly as tears fell freely down her cheeks. "Bakura…!" she said, choking up as she opened the door wider and trapped her son in a hug. "Thank you, thank you…!"

Bakura felt tears cascading down his own cheeks as he hugged her back. "Mom… I'm, I'm so sorry…" his chest shook as he tried not to cry, failing miserably.

"No, _I'm _sorry," his mother said, hugging him tighter. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when you were younger, I… no, there's no excuse, I can only apologize -"

"No, I knew you took dad's death really hard, I should've have understood, but…" Bakura had to swallow back his tears before he continued with, "… I miss him too, you know…"

"I know, I know…" his mother said as he felt tear after tear fall onto his shoulder. "I, you… you just look so much like him, Bakura, I know that's a horrible excuse, but…" she took a deep breath before continuing, "Marik's brother and sister offered to help take care of you, so I just… thought I could let them take care of you, since I felt so broken, I…" she could talk anymore as she started crying uncontrollably, her chest contracting with each sob.

Bakura closed his eyes, trying to dam up his own tears and not really caring when they still came. _Mom… I'm so sorry, I must have put you through so much hell…_ he started patting her on the back. Of course she felt broken - the man she loved _died_, and it was so sudden too… They didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. And it was true, he did look a lot like his dad, save for the white hair… it probably made her sad all over again, just like Kilam had when he first saw him, because he looked so much like Marik.

"… It's okay, mom," he finally said, his voice cracking. "I, I'm not mad at you anymore…" She just hugged him tighter, not saying a word, but it was obvious she was truly happy to hear him say that.

They stayed like that for a long time, just standing there and crying all of their sadness and pain away; crying away all the tension and hate that had been harbored between them… They cried, and cried, and when they were finally done they just hugged each other. They both knew it would take a while to truly get back to a "mother-son" relationship, but they were both finally ready to commit to rebuilding one. They were ready to work through all of the problems, all of the hardships along the way, because they were family, and they loved each other…

_And that was all mom ever wanted_, Bakura realized, as he hugged his mother after ten, long years.

* * *

"Good night, sweetie," Bakura mother said, happy tears in her eyes as she leaned down and kissed her son's forehead, who was laying in his bed and smiling up at his mother.

"Thanks, mom… Sweet dreams. And thanks for helping me with my science."

"No problem," she said, choking up as she said, "What's a mom for, right?"

Bakura reached up and wiped away a stray tear that had fallen from her eye. "Yeah…"

She clamped a hand to her mouth, overcome with emotion, before she stood up and turned his light off, biting her bottom lip as more happy tears traveled down her cheeks. She smiled at him before closing the door, and walking to her own room, knowing that there was no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight; her son had finally forgiven her… he had finally given her another chance to redeem herself as a mother… and she couldn't believe it. Was this all just a dream? She shook her head; even if it was a dream, she was happy to experience it.

Meanwhile, her son closed his eyes happily as he went over the evening with his mother. Neither of them had felt like cooking, so they went out to Bakura's favorite restaurant - the Steak House -, and then she had helped him with his science homework. Then, he helped her clean the house and almost sent her into a fit of happy hysterics. Throughout all this they hugged a lot, never seeming to banish the water that stayed on the edges of their eyes.

… He had to admit, having a mom again felt _great_. He hadn't realized how much he missed his mother until he started hanging out with her again…

He closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep happily, but all of a sudden he felt a wild wind fly all around him again, just like last night. Before he woke up in Marik's body…!

He sat up in his bed, looking around frantically as the same boyish, turban-and-robe-wearing figure from before appeared. Only this time he was smiling slightly as he said,

"_Not bad, human!  
I see you're finally getting  
__Just what your actions do  
To those who're still fretting._

"_But your ride's not over yet!  
As you've still a lot to learn.  
Time can heal most any wound,  
But only when in turn." _

Just like before, Bakura's bed sheets tucked him in, ensuring that he wouldn't move. As the ghost flew over him and stared into his eyes again, all Bakura could think was, _Again? I'm going through this again?-! I thought I already got the message!_

"_Your bitter soul,  
Your bitter heart,  
_And_ your bitter goals  
Are improving quite fast!  
All I can say is… At last!"_

"_No more a monster or a liar  
Or ugly creature shall you be,  
As you've found the miseries of others  
To be something sad indeed."_

"_But you'll learn even more  
About someone else's guise  
If you see the day with feeling,  
As well as through her eyes!_"

The ghost flew into him again, but instead of the excruciating pain from before there was only a slight, buzzing pain as he slowly but peacefully blacked out.

* * *

**Haha! What happens next? XD *giggles* I really wanted to get this done before I headed off to vacation this Sunday (I'm going on an 8-day cruise~ Cruise ships are lovely :3) because so many of you were anxious to see what Bakura would do and I felt like you guys deserved this much at least… So here you are!-! I hope you liked it, please share any and all thoughts with me (especially if you thought this was unrealistic/terrible/whatever so I can improve).**

**Thank you all very much for reading this! It makes me happy to see people enjoying this story, since I am too :3 **

**And for all of you who guessed Jake was up to no good, you were right XD Annzy is predictable, I suppose… Ah well *chuckles* **

~~~{REVIEW REPLIES!}~~~**OMAI**: XD Haha, sorry, Madison~! I hope you enjoyed this cliffhanger as well XD And thanks for reading and loving this :3 It makes me so happy~! *hugs you* Also, I like tormenting you XD And, as to why I write so well, it's a thing called "practice, practice, practice!". And fine, I'm the uke. WHATEVER, GOSH, I DON'T EVEN CARE, MAN.

XD Love ya~ I'll miss you when school starts :'(

**ThiefshippingFTW**: XD Sorry for making you cry… although I have to ask, did this one make you cry? What with Bakura and his mom making up (I only ask because I actually felt like crying while writing that…). Glad you loved the ending of the last one though! Heehee, Marmikins XD And don't worry, 'Kura's going to stop being mean… to the right people, at least XD Haha, thanks for the review and hope you enjoyed this chapter! =)

**ChoasWolf**: Omg thank you!-! :') That makes me happy to hear, glad you like the story *gushes* Heeheehee~!

**MadRayTer**: You're welcome! Thank you for reviewing this story as well as "Purple!" :3 Hehe, and favorite author on FF.N you say? That's a big responsibility, I hope I can live up to it~ ^-^ Thank you for that lovely compliment though, dear, I do appreciate it =) I hope you liked this chapter! And, yeah, getting Marik back is nooot going to be easy… ^^" But it's doable! … Somehow! Haha, CURSE YOU, JAKE! CURSE YOU INTO THE NETHERWORLD! And don't worry, it wasn't too long XD Haha, never worry about length with me!

Also, in response to your reviews for "Purple!": glad you liked the AVS reference XD Haha, I love slipping stuff like that in *chuckles* I'm so terrible XD *shot* Sorry for making you fall out of your chair XD Although I am pleased I was able to get such a reaction through my writing! :3  
And no, you really don't want to know what Ryou's sweets are XD  
Thanks for all your lovely reviews, dear! I love them all :D


	5. Up, and Down

_**Sorry you guys had to wait a year for this...**_

**But, as always, thank you very much to bloody cupcake, Dynamite and Soup, The Purple Eyed One, SerenePanic, wolfairer, Aqua girl 007, Fellowship of Avengers, ThiefshippingFTW, DarkEvee, AifasInTheSky, MadRayTer, noffermans, Yijasha, ChoasWolf, Just a freak, Dangerous Horizon, tessa, overdramatic comedian, L. , and Guest! You are all super amazing and I wish I could give you all a super big hug :) **

**I am so sorry this chapter took so long, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway ^^ **

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Up, and Down**_

_Beep! Beep! Dance time! Dance time! Beep! Beep!_

Bakura quickly shut off the alarm next to his bed with his tanned hand, yawning and stretching before standing up and smoothing his golden hair back out of his face. "Ugh, why do I do this to myself?" he asked as he stood up and snatched his iPod and headphones off of his desk.

_Why am I here again…?_ he asked himself as Marik clicked on a playlist entitled, "Tues. Morning Dance Routine" and put the buds in her ears. _Haven't I already learned my lesson…? Ugh, what had he said? _

"_But you'll learn more  
About someone else's guise  
If you see the day with feeling,  
As well as through her eyes!_"

_Yeah, that's it… but what does that mean?_

"First, some yoga~!" Marik sang quietly to herself, smiling and feeling incredibly happy.

_Wait, happy?_ Bakura thought to himself, a light bulb going off in his brain. _Oh, I got it; I'm going to feel whatever she feels now. Well, this should be interesting._

Marik closed her eyes as she listened to the relaxing music that played, a calm, cool feeling spreading over her as she took deep breaths and held the flamingo pose; something Bakura only knew because they had done a yoga period in gym once. Though the different poses she went through were not what fascinated Bakura, no. What fascinated Bakura about _this_ experience was just how _much_ he was feeling from Marik. He could still feel things for himself, but it was hard to distinguish his own feelings from Marik's. Was he feeling happy because _he_ was happy that she was happy? Or was he happy because _Marik_ was happy? Or was it a mixture both? If Bakura felt happy about something, but Marik felt sad, what would he feel then? Would he ultimately feel sad, but know deep down that he actually felt happy? Or would Marik's emotion warp his own perception so that he _couldn't_ feel for himself while he was like this?

He became distracted from these thoughts when he felt himself grow more energetic. "Okay, yoga's done, now it's time for some soul!" She said, blasting a joyful, upbeat song in her ears, grinning, and starting to dance wildly to it as she walked to her closet and picked out her outfit for the day, her joy growing each second. Bakura felt like laughing himself, though, again, he wasn't sure if it was purely because Marik felt like laughing or because he felt happy for her.

Evidently, after soul was rock, and she started whipping her hair back and forth and laughing when her earphones fell off. Then there was country, and she started line dancing/do-si-do-ing, all the while twirling her clothes around with her. Finally, there was jazz, and _dang_ did she take some liberties there with her "dancing;" Bakura was sure that if he was in his own body he would be feeling… well, a more _intense_ version of joy, we'll say. Luckily, all he felt was an impossibly high amount of innocent happiness, thanks to Marik.

"All right, time to get serious," she said after the end of one song, glancing at her alarm clock. Bakura then noticed that she must have woken up at least a half an hour earlier than she did yesterday so that she could finish this little dancing routine. "Singing and dressing time!"

This time, Bakura expected the time warp that thankfully skipped over the part where Marik changes her clothes, though he wasn't expecting the immediate rush of pure joy once it was over – it almost felt like he had been punched in the gut by the strength of the emotion.

She was now singing along to some peppy showtunes as she applied her kohl, grinning ear to ear and twitching her body slightly as she did so. "Make 'em laaaauuuugh! Maake 'em laaaauuuugh – _don't_ you _know_ EV'ry _one_ **wants** to laaaauuuugh?" She burst into her own round of laughter, which in turn made Bakura feel like laughing too now, his previous pain gone. "Why yes, I know that everyone wants to laugh – but I think the _real_ question is, do _you_ know that everyone wants to laugh?" she asked her reflection, raising an accusing eyebrow at it. "Don't you give me that look! Oh, we're being a copycat now, eh? Well, miss, you're going to get yourself into trouble!" She grinned before launching into another Broadway song: "Lots and lots of trouble! I say that's trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!" She laughed before commenting to herself, "It's a good thing there isn't any pool tables nearby, or else I'd be in lots and lots of trouble! Oh, Music Man," she shook her head before capping her kohl and looking at herself in the mirror. "Am I forgetting any –? Oh! That's right." She walked back to her room before foraging through her dressers, humming a different tune that Bakura didn't recognize as she did so. Well, to be fair, he didn't really recognize the ones he _has_ heard her sing, though he found himself enjoying them anyways (again, was it because that was how Marik felt? Or did he honestly like them?). Actually, Marik was going to sit him down and make him watch a ton of musicals the summer before her ninth grade year, but then… you know…

… _Well_, at least now Bakura knew that he could still feel _guilt_ whilst like this. Fantastic.

"Found it!" she proclaimed, smiling as she took out a small little hairband that filled her with an odd sort of pleasure mixed with nerves. Bakura felt it too, but he mainly just felt angry, as it reminded him of _Jake_.

_Oh, honey,_ he thought, shaking his head, _you have no idea what that boy's up to…_

"I don't usually put my hair up," she mumbled to herself as she walked back to the bathroom. She grabbed her brush and spent about three minutes combing it into absolute perfection before gathering it all up and attempting to tie it into a ponytail. She soon realized that she was utterly horrible at this task though. "Dang it, why is this so hard?!" she asked as she stared at the loose strands poking out of her head before ripping the band out of her hair. She felt nothing but frustrated, whereas Bakura felt like laughing and just a little bit sorry for her; _he_ could tie his hair up better than her.

"Need any help, kiddo?" Isis asked. Marik felt panic and embarrassment wave through her before turning around, seeing a very amused-looking Isis leaning against the doorframe.

"Um…"

"Here, let me put your hair up," she offered, grabbing the brush and the hairtie. "Why are you putting your hair up, though? I thought you liked the down look."

"Uh, I figured it was just time to try something new," she lied easily while smiling. Although Bakura knew that there was actually a pit in her stomach from the small lie to her sister; she _had_ always hated lying to the people close to her.

"Okay then. And… there, happy with the look?" she asked as she finished the hairdo.

Marik looked at herself, frowning a bit, disappointment settling in her stomach. "I look like a rat…" she muttered.

"What?!" Isis and Bakura both asked incredulously, though of course Marik couldn't hear Bakura. They both thought she looked pretty! "You've got to be kidding – you look fine!"

"I just look so _bare_ – like a rat."

"Stop comparing yourself to a rat!" Isis scolded, frowning. "If you have to use an animal, then say a mouse, because you look like a cute, little mouse – not a rat!"

Marik shrugged, and Bakura noted with disbelief that she didn't believe a word her sister said. How could she _possibly_ think she looked anything less than beautiful? If he had known how much she hated herself like this, he would have complimented her on it. Though she probably would've thought he had been joking…

"Anyways, I've gotta go," Marik told her sister. "Sunrise, you know?"

Isis rolled her eyes. "All right. And if you hate your hair up, then just keep it down!"

"Uh, well, I might as well give it a try. Just for today. See ya!" she called before walking away. At this point, Bakura was just confused; she just said she didn't like the way she looked with her hair up, so why was she keeping it like that? Was this another female thing that he would never understand? Or was it just because _Jake_ had told her to try it? Why did she care so much what he thought? Bakura could feel jealousy wash over him, which was weird, since it was mixing with Marik's overall happy attitude as she grabbed her toast and hopped on her bike.

"Sun_riiiise,_ sunset. Sun_riiiiise_, sunset," she sung quietly to herself before letting out a laugh and singing a slightly different tune, picking up her pedaling pace. "It was red, and yellow, and green, and brown, and scarlet, and black, and ochre, and peach, and ruby, and olive, and violet, and fawn, and lilac, and gold, and chocolate, and mauve, and cream, and crimson, and silver, and rose, and azure, and lemon, and russet, and grey, and purple, and white, and pink, and orange, and blue!"

_Okay, I really need to watch more musicals if _this_ is the way she is_, Bakura thought to himself as she continued to sing yet another song he had never heard before.

Before they knew it, Marik had successfully biked all the way to the meadow and proclaimed with sing-song joy, "Coming here early is the best~." She propped up her bike against the tree and flattened her skirt before sitting against it. This gave Bakura a sense of déjà vu, and he almost wished he could've looked at himself spying on her at that moment. "Now to sit back, relax, and wait for the show," she said offhandedly to herself, putting her hands behind her head and sighing contentedly.

She stayed like this for a while, but Bakura noticed something he hadn't noticed yesterday: her happiness slowly melting down and morphing into a different emotion all together. Sometimes there were jumps of joy, most likely as she tried to remember something to make her feel happy again, but ultimately they were swallowed up by the new emotion until eventually all she felt was swirling of sorrow and loneliness. "I remembered why I don't come here early anymore…" she said before looking down and sighing. He ears perked up, however, as she heard something that distinctly sounded like a sigh.

"Hello?" she called warily.

Silence.

"Hey, I _heard_ you!" she shouted angrily, filling Bakura with anger too and causing him to start yelling at _himself_. "Just come on out, whoever you are. But be warned, if you're a creep I'll kick your but!"

More silence. Bakura had to hand it to himself – he could be like a ninja when he wanted to.

"… Maybe I'm imagining things," she said quietly to herself before sighing again. "Or maybe I'm just that desperate for company. "Hello, Mr. Pervert," she began in a fake voice. Even though Bakura had heard this yesterday, her accent still made him laugh, and he was pleased that a weak happy feeling was coming over her as she continued to talk. "Care to watch the sunrise with me before I kick your butt and alert the authorities of your existence? No? You'd rather just kidnap me and miss out on natural beauty? Well… screw you, then,"" she finished, shaking her head.

A few more seconds passed as her emotions battled again, but then suddenly, an overwhelmingly accepting yet heartbroken feeling with a little bit of disappointment washed over her. "I miss you, Bakura…" she whispered softly, almost as if she was embarrassed to admit it.

… How was it possible that just four little words could rip Bakura's heart into a million, tiny pieces so easily?

* * *

Marik rode up to the school building and locked up her bike, standing and stretching before staring up at the school. "Why can't you be funner?" she asked the tall building before sighing and walking inside.

"Maaaaarik!" a familiar voice called out. Marik smiled happily as she was soon hugged/mauled by Ryou from behind. "I like what you did with your hair!" ADD DRAMA. How was your day yesterday~?" the cheerful girl asked.

"You were there for most of it," Marik replied, laughing a bit. "Get off!"

"Awww!" Ryou whined, pouting but letting go nonetheless. Once she did, however, she crossed her arms and huffed, drawing attention to her slim blue jeans and her plain white T-shirt. "Come on! You know how important hugs are to me!"

Marik rolled her eyes, but there was a warm, happy feeling throughout her nonetheless. Bakura couldn't help but wonder, though… how important _were_ hugs to her? If he remembered correctly, they used to be pretty important to Marik, too – she would always be hugging him and demanding hugs. But she hadn't really been showing that; not yesterday, at least. Although it also seemed like she didn't really have a lot of friends, either…

Who's fault was that, exactly?

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Marik told her finally before grinning, a mischievous air about her. "Say, today's Tuesday, and you know what that means~!"

Ryou smiled and put on an "innocent" face, saying coyly, "Hm? I have no idea what you could _possibly_ be referring to, Marik dear~"

Marik laughed, a bubbly, happiness rising inside of her. "Oh, don't even act like that, sister – you know that Tuesdays are your Kilam day."

Bakura chuckled a bit when he heard that. He had almost forgotten about Kilam's little meetings with Ryou! So it seemed she looked forward to them as well? Seems Kilam really didn't have anything to worry about at all!

Bakura knew he was right when Ryou grinned to herself and spun around, giving Marik a wink. "Oh, is that today~?"

"Sod off!" Marik told her, laughing and pushing at her lightly. "Come on, you don't want to be late for your appointment."

Ryou sighed dreamily and attacked her friend in a hug again. "He's getting _so_ much better, Marik! I think he's smiling more!"

"Is he really?" Marik asked, highly amused. Bakura wished he could tell Ryou just how much he _was_ improving, but as always, he couldn't say anything like this.

The two girls walked along the school hallways, stopping at Ryou's locker once to grab her backpack, before coming to the pavilion. Kilam was already standing there when they arrived, staring up at the sky thoughtfully.

_How early does he get here?!_ Bakura couldn't help but wonder, but he and Marik both jumped with surprise when Ryou yelled, "Hey Kilam!" at the top of her lungs, running forward. Marik snorted with laughter and quickly covered her mouth, matching Bakura's want to laugh, too.

Kilam gave a small yet meaningful smile as he received her jump-hug easily. He held her there for perhaps just a little longer than necessary before she was set down, beaming up at him. "Ready to start?" she chirped, causing Marik and Bakura to laugh again – she looked like a little kid asking her friend if they could play.

Kilam just nodded his head slowly. "Ready when you are."

"Great!" Ryou gave a little jump before digging into her backpack and pulling out a satin, lapis bag, closed with a tiny golden string. She grinned as she opened it up and pinched something out, soon throwing a white, powdery substance at Kilam's chest.

_. . . This girl is nuts_, Bakura thought to himself, and yet he could feel Marik's amusement and fascination shine through his own feelings of determent. Though it was a little funny when Kilam gave a deep, slow chuckle.

"What is that stuff, again?" he asked, tilting his head with a small smile.

"Ground up smelling salts!" she said, grinning. "They're to help you focus during the process. Now lay down."

As Kilam did as he was told, chuckling a bit more, Marik walked over to the cherry tree and sat down, leaning against it while Ryou rummaged through her bag again, an excited smile plastered on her face. Marik started dying of silent laughter, however, when the witchy girl pulled out a purple clover, and Bakura was forced to join her in the pleasant yet slightly painful experience.

"Here," Ryou's clear voice broke the air around her as she handed the flower to Kilam, who was now laying down with his hands folded over his stomach and one of his feet bobbin. "Eat this," she told him, placing it on top of his hands gently. She let out a small squeak, blushing pink, when Kilam's hand moved suddenly to take the flower and "accidentally" brushed against her own.

"Thanks," Kilam said while Ryou busied herself by rummaging through her bag again. Marik and Bakura just laughed at the whole experience, but mostly at Ryou's face, which was fighting between smiling like an idiot and looking horribly embarrassed.

After awhile, Marik calmed down just enough to watch Ryou continue the process with a small smile on her face. "These two should just kiss and get together already," she mumbled to herself with a small laugh, picking at the grass absently. Bakura couldn't help but agree with her, their two happinesses melding together to form a truly blissful feeling.

"Okay!" Ryou announced, now holding up two little color squares in front of him – one light blue, the other dark green. "Which one's more appealing?"

Kilam studied the squares, as if thinking deeply about each one. Bakura couldn't help but feel like laughing (though Marik probably was, too) – he had thought that Ryou would be using potions and spells and… magic items, not _psychology_. Or whatever this was.

Soon though, Kilam pointed at the dark green one. "I like the shade of that one," he said simply. "It's calming.

Ryou nodded, completely serious, and turned to put the squares away before taking out a necklace that had a flat square the same shade of green as the previous color square. She handed the rope-tied necklace to him with a smile. "Then wear this today – if something happens you can look at the color and feel that calmness."

Bakura was just glad that Marik agreed with him on how ridiculous this seemed. Or, at least, he assumed that's how she felt about it, since he could feel her wanting to laugh again.

Kilam took it, though, giving a small grin as he put it on. "Green's the opposite of red, isn't it?"

"I always thought green and red were Christmas colors," Ryou replied, sticking her tongue out at him. "And I told you before – simply _seeing_ something red doesn't make you snap. If it did, then you wouldn't be so in control during the day – have you ever noticed this school is filled with the color red?!"

Kilam looked just as confused as Marik and Bakura felt; was this school _really_ filled with so much red…?

Kilam voiced the question, blinking and tilting his head curiously. "It is…?" He gave a small smile. "I guess you're right, then."

Ryou nodded proudly before searching in her bag again. "I think you just hate idiocy, or injustice, or just people in general since…" she sighed sadly and turned to look at him. "It's true that if you look at most people at face value, they don't seem good… at all. And almost like they _don't _deserve to live, but…" Her eyes turned to look at Marik as she smiled weakly. "Everyone deserves a second chance…"

That one sentence sent Marik into an incredibly sour mood. She scowled and turned to look down at the ground, anger flaring up in her stomach and head as she crossed her arms.

… Call him self-centered, but had Ryou insinuated that Marik should give he, Bakura, a second chance…? If that was the case, how violent Marik was acting towards the very _idea_ of that should give him a pretty good indication to stop trying to be friends with her…

However, instead of feel discouraged and doing just that, he, like a lot of people knowing things like this, was determined to try evenharder. He wanted to _show_ Marik that he _was_ worthy of a second chance. Even if he had been kind of a… major, um… bad word…

Yeah, he had been _really_ bad… At that point he couldn't help but wonder how many times Marik had wanted to kill _him_.

Marik's mood gradually improved back to a state of passive happiness as Ryou and Marik's session went on, much to Bakura's relief (feeling just how much hatred and anger she had for him made him feel a little sick…). She even laughed a little when they started doing some sort of "healing dance," but to Bakura it just looked like they were running around with wild movements.

Eventually, after many other weird practices, Ryou smiled at Kilam and told him to lay down on his back. Once he did as he was told, Ryou took out a big, old-looking book and opened it up to a specific page before holding one of her hands in the air. Bakura wasn't entirely sure how she was able to balance that heavy-looking book with only one of her small hands, but soon his mind was much more preoccupied with her words:

"Emotions!" she proclaimed loudly to the air in front of her, as if she was talking to an imaginary audience. "They are the main forces that guide our actions! They control how we react to every situation, every phrase heard, every view we see. They regulate our likes and dislikes, our triggers and our memory…" Ryou stopped then, her gaze turning blank, as if she was seeing something not of this world. Then, suddenly, she took a sharp intake of breath and shook her head. "With all this power they have, sometimes they become corrupt!" She turned to gesture at Kilam. "The most negative emotions are still running rampant through this one! Refusing to relinquish their hold on him, despite the positive slowly coming back, they wallow in their false sense of power and have forgotten their purpose as Darker Emotions in the first place!" Her eyes seemed to alight with anger, her face turning to a frown as she turned back to look at her invisible audience. "Therefore, I ask of you, the Emotions of Light, to fully come back to this spirit and regain your _true_ power!" She raised her hands up in the air and started waving around wildly – a tree in the wind, matching the swift uproar of wind perfectly. "Move through me and into this young man; take some of my good will as backup if you need!" She quickly kneeled down, the unseen force of wild wind seeming to go with her and into Kilam as she placed her hand flat on his chest and proclaimed, "Work your magic!"

A stark silence met them then, the excited wind now gone and a heavy breathing taking its place. But, and this was preposterous in Bakura and Marik's opinion, but it seemed as if the wind had actually gone into Kilam – it would certainly explain why the boy now had goosebumps, his teeth starting to chatter.

This caused Ryou to smile and turn to look at Marik, saying, "Look – he feels so good he's shivering!" before she laughed.

Marik soon joined her with a chuckle, muttering, "Crazy girl..." under her breath.

When Ryou stopped laughing, she took her hand off of Kilam, allowing him to stand up and shake her hand. "Thank you, as always, Ryou," he said politely before hugging her, unknowingly causing the girl to blush a little, and causing Marik to snicker under her breath. "As usual, I somehow feel better..." He released her and walked over to Marik. "And, once again," Kilam bowed a little, which made Marik surprised. "I'm sorry for intruding on your time with Ryou."

"Oh, get off it...!" She shook her head and waved her hands in a dispelling manner. "I've told you a million times! It's no trouble at all!" She pouted then, feeling an odd twist in her gut, though Bakura wasn't sure why, exactly... Another reminder, it seemed, that perhaps he didn't know that much about Marik anymore.

Kilam just nodded at her, though, before walking away with a wave, chuckling a bit when Ryou started waving excitably. Once the male was out of earshot, Ryou ran up to Marik and jumped up and down, whispering, "He hugged me! He hugged me!-!"

Marik smirked a little at that, feeling mischievous. "So, this makes, what? Your 100th date?" she joked.

"Shut up!" Ryou laughed and did a mock kick at her. "They're not dates! They're sessions -"

"Seems tome you wish you did more during your "sessions,"" Marik continued to joke, laughing at the way her friend's face turned red.

"Oh-oh, just be quiet, you...!" Ryou muttered before grinning a little, which made Marik a little on edge. "But, speaking of doing "more," how's Jake doing~?"

"We," Marik started, standing up and feeling just a little embarrassed. "Are. _Not._ Having. This. Conversation!"

Ryou grinned and teased, "Marik and Jakey, sittin' in a tree~"

"We're a little older than gradeschool, aren't we?!" Marik asked, blushing and covering her friend's mouth, much to the other's amusement and Bakura's slight anger.

Marik was _blushing_. And... feeling a little light and giggly, as if what Ryou was suggesting wasn't so bad... Which made Bakura want to break something. Oh, if only Marik knew who Jake truly was...! If only she knew that he was just using her for a bloody good grade, and – though the thought made him sick – a toy... it seemed.

"All right," Ryou's voice interrupted Bakura's thoughts. "Sooo, what should we do then? Walk around, a card game?"

"Let's walk around," Marik said before grinning and joking, "So that I can walk off the bad energy~"

"Oh, sod off!" Ryou yelled, but she was smiling a little, which made Marik _and_ Bakura match her smile. The British boy had to admit – Marik had found a pretty good friend.

… But that was the thing – friend. Singular. He was still a little worried that Marik didn't have more friends... Not that he _should_ be worrying, should he? After all, they were the exact opposite of friends...

Though Bakura was finally starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, that could change...

* * *

Marik sighed as she gathered her things from her locker. "I like learning," she muttered to herself, feeling a bit sour ever since she and Ryou had to split ways. "But the people here are total jerks..."

"Tell me about it."

The unexpected voice made Marik jump and blush a little, feeling giddy, though it made Bakura scowl. "H-hi, Jake!"

"Hey." Marik turned around and... oh, God – did she _swoon_ when she saw his easy, "melting" grin?! Bakura thought Marik was better than that! And apparently, so did she as a knot of disbelief coarsed through her.

"So," Jake continued after a minute, his smile widening. "I see you put your hair up – it looks nice."

"Th-thanks," Marik said, smiling a little and twirling her ponytail around. It made Bakura laugh, remembering how she didn't even think she looked good with her hair up and yet she was so ready to believe him... Though perhaps that was a good thing, since Marik _should_ think she's beautiful, but still... It bugged him how she got to thinking that.

"So..." Jake did a little side-step and tripped a little, much to his obvious horror.

Was it wrong that Bakura laughed like a sadistic maniac? And found it disappointing that Marik only laughed with amusement?

"Walk much?" Marik joked, smirking a bit.

Jake stuck his tongue out at her before righting himself and leaning against the lockers. Pretentious prick. What was it about him that made Marik feel so happy?!

"I walk plenty, _thank you!_" he replied, laughing and then just smiling at her, which seemed to catch Marik off guard as she just stood there and smiled... dreamily(?!) at him.

Ugh, where was that time skip thing when you needed it?

After what Bakura thought was an _eternity_ of looking awkwardly into each other's eyes (though it was obvious Marik never wanted it to end), Jake chuckled and waved goodbye, saying, "Well, have fun in class," as he walked off.

"Yeah~" Marik smiled after him, complete and utter goggly eyes... Ugh.

… Though, when he saw Bakura the Jerk appear, and feel Marik's entire demeanor change from happy to annoyed, angry, tensed, and just plain _hard_... he kind of wished she'd go back to staring at Jake, and that was even knowing what Jake was doing.

After a few seconds though, some of Marik's more negative feelings turned to curiosity as she found that Bakura the Jerk was just _looking_ at her. "Um, helloooo?" she asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

He watched himself shake his head and give a little grin, which gave Marik quite a shock. "... I'm sorry." Wow, he hadn't meant to sound so quiet when he said that...

"Don't mention it," Marik said easily, feeling confident. "I'm used to you being a dim-witted idiot."

Her guard went all the way back up as the past Bakura laughed. "Step up from pervert," he said with a smile.

Marik was speechless, her jaw slacking a little as she just stood there with nothing but confusion and... was that hope? "... No, you're that, too..." She tilted her head a bit as she looked at him, starting to get a little suspicious again as she looked at him.

She felt an... odd feeling roil in her stomach as the past Bakura laughed. What was it, though? Nostalgia? She jumped when she caught his eyes, seeing him bite his bottom lip absently, that odd feeling roiling more violently from the sight. "But I mean it, I... I'm sorry..."

Marik simply stared, dumbfounded at him, for a few moments. She was a big, emotional blank at this point, which the present Bakura found interesting – was it possible to feel nothing?

He spoke to soon when, just like before, it felt like he had been sucker-punched by emotion – only, instead of happiness, it was... sadness. Just an incredibly horrible, lonely, echoing sadness as her eyes started to water and she shoved her books _hard_ into his chest, giving the current Bakura a bit of ghost pain. "Fuck you, Bakura," she said through ground teeth, a feeling of disappointment ringing in her again as a single tear escaped. Though she still felt a small sense of satisfaction – probably from knocking the breath out of him.

Just like yesterday, she ran straight to the bathroom, but this time she _did_ lock herself in a stall, putting her books on top of the toilet paper dispenser and then leaning against the door, hugging herself and just letting the tears fall as she shook with silent sobs; no words this time, just sadness... Just that almost tangible, hollow, _sadness_ flowing throughout her entire body, making Bakura wish he could just hug her, for probably the millionth time. Making him wish that he could wipe away her tears and tell her that everything was going to be all right... He just wanted to take _away_ her sadness, he didn't want to be the fucking _cause_ of it anymore...!

Damn it, what was wrong with him?!

* * *

Just like with Bakura, before Marik knew it, lunchtime arrived. She met up with Ryou again, just like yesterday, they chatted for a bit until arriving at the lunch line and heading to their table. Bakura could not explain how pleased he was that Jake was nowhere in sight throughout the whole process.

Once she sat down, however, everyone seemed to be grinning at her, which immediately put her on edge as she cautiously took her seat.

"So," Joey started, grinning wider than them all. "Jake, huh?"

Bakura swore he would have done anything at that moment to just punch him in the face and tell him to shut up. Especially when Marik blushed darkly and turned to glare at Ryou, who was looking just a little too "innocent," if you asked Bakura. It seemed Marik thought so, too, as she felt anger boiling inside her. "_Why did you tell them?!_"

"Becaaauuuse~" Ryou sang, giggling and giving her a Cheshire grin. "They have a right to know?"

"No, they don't!"

"Oh, lighten up!"

"Yeah!" Joey agreed, chuckling. "Who would'a thought little Marik could have a crush~"

"Shut up, Joey, or I'll go tell Mai how much you stare at her."

Bakura laughed as Joey blushed now, leaning back in his seat and not saying anything else. Marik also grinned smugly before looking around at everyone else. "Any more comments?!"

Their table was silent for a minute until Yugi mumbled, "Good luck."

Both Marik and Bakura felt a bit... sad, at hearing him say that. He was probably only telling her good luck because of his own love woes.

"... Thanks, Yugi," Marik told him, smiling a little at him, feeling just a bit happier when Yugi smiled back.

"So," Tristan spoke up, "Ryou, I saw you talking to the psycho this morning -"

"He's not a psycho," Ryou defended immediately, frowning and glaring at him for even saying such a thing. Although Marik couldn't help but snicker at that a little. "He's getting better every day, and next week will be his one year anniversary of not setting _anything_ on fire!"

"Impressive," Marik said, still laughing a little.

"_And_," Ryou wasn't done, "his medication's been downgraded so much that he could probably stop taking it!"

"Let's not test that," Yami said under his breath, making Bakura laugh. When Kilam had first come to their school, him and Yami had immediately disliked each other and would occasionally get into little squabbles. Sometimes they'd involve actual fighting (with Yami almost getting a broken limb once), and sometimes they were simply verbal attacks. Most people say that Kilam started it, and he'd even admit to starting them all himself, though he'd never get to explain how it was only because he hated the look Yami gave him all the time. Like he was pitying him, or thought he was less than human. As far as Bakura knew, he was the only one who knew this last part, except for Ryou, he assumed.

Ryou gave a little huff and crossed her arms. "Some people are just born with a chemical imbalance in their brain, okay?" she told them all, pouting a little.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Joey asked, blinking in confusion.

Marik groaned at the question and asked him, "Don't you pay attention in science class? Or psychology?"

"... I try..."

Tea rolled her eyes before locking him into a scientific explanation as to what Ryou meant, though you could tell he did _not_ want to be a part of this conversation _at all_.

Marik paid attention to it for the first few minutes, intrigued by how well Tea was explaining it, but then Ryou tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, you're still going to the gym after school today, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Bakura was surprised by that a little. Since when did Marik go to a gym? If he remembered correctly, she had always talked about going to one for the fun of it and complaining that her siblings kept saying that she was too young to go to one yet. They must have finally relented now that she was in high school.

"Well," Ryou smiled and blushed a little. "You always say I can come with you, so... can I invite Kilam to come, too?"

Marik's eyes widened in surprise. "You actually want to go to the gym?" She grinned a little and teased, "Aren't there more cupcakes that need frosting?"

"I can do that tomorrow!" Ryou argued, sticking her tongue out at him. As Bakura laughed with Marik, he couldn't tell if Ryou was being completely serious, or continuing the joke. "Come on, I think a little workout could do him good -"

"You just want to stare at his muscles," Marik accused playfully, taking pride in how much her friend's face flushed. Bakura grinned to himself. Oh, he wished he could tell Kilam!

"I. Do. Not!" Ryou huffed quietly at her. "Look, it's a simple yes or no question!"

Marik just chuckled as she nodded. "Yeah, sure. Why not invite him right now?"

"Well, I would." Marik saw her friend smile a little and start waving, giggling too, which prompted Marik to turn around as well and see Kilam grinning and waving back. Marik chuckled a little at that, a happy feeling inside her for her friend. But, then she caught Bakura's eyes and her face dropped, feeling stone-cold again, along with that same sadness she felt earlier... and yet, also, confusion.

"But if I asked him right now," Ryou's voice snapped Marik back to the table and away from her least favorite person. "Then Bakura would know where you are."

Marik's stomach churned, and she scowled before looking down at her meal, macaroni and cheese, for the first time. "Yeah... can't have that."

… Well, that hurt more than it should have.

* * *

_No._

_No, no, no, no, no, no, **NO**. _

This was all Bakura could think as the bell rang, announcing the end of Marik's choir class. While the girl felt happy and refreshed from singing for an hour as she packed up, Bakura could only feel dread, for he knew what happened next...

Bloody. Jake.

_Please_, he started pleading with whomever had sent him into Marik's mind. _Please, just skip over this part like you do when Marik changes. Please!_ He did _not_ need to see this particular scene again. The horrible sight of Jake enacting his diabolical plan to use Marik to pass a stupid algebra test. He had witnessed it already! He got the point – Marik didn't suspect a thing and just felt incredibly happy to be by him, he got it! Did he really deserve to be punished _this_ much and witness it a second time?!

Evidently so as Marik walked through the choir doors, every part of her brightening and feeling a lot happier upon seeing him there.

Someone gag Bakura with a spoon, please. Or, better yet, maim Jake with the spoon. Yes, that would solve _all_ of his problems!

… Okay, maybe not _all_ of them, but a good portion of them.

"Hey Jake!" Marik greeted, grinning a bit and feeling that mischievous part of her come out. "Do you even attend your classes?"

As Jake responded, Bakura groaned and closed his eyes, starting to beg again. _Pleaaase, just skip over this...! I'll do any -_

No sooner than he had pleaded this last time, he found himself in the familiar sense of "blurring" and soon coming to the sight of Marik sitting on her bike, but not going anywhere as she typed a message on her phone.

… Well, what do you know? Begging random body-switching spirits worked.

"I'm head-ing to," Marik mumbled to herself as she typed out on a text message to her sister. All around, the air was filled with the noise of people walking around and talking, either waiting for rides or stalling to chat with friends. Bakura felt incredibly happy at the moment, though, which was kind of conflicting with the simple, calm feeling Marik was currently in. But could you blame him? He didn't have to see that jerkface, Jake again today! "The gym," Marik continued, "I'll text you, when I'm... done." Once the message was sent, she pocketed her phone and set her foot on her bike pedal, looking around for something. Or, someone, Bakura realized as Ryou came in to her view, laughing and dragging a reluctant-looking Kilam by the hand.

Marik snickered at the sight and quickly biked over to them. "Hey guys!" she greeted. They didn't seem to notice her, though, as their conversation continued.

"Come on, Kilam!" Ryou was trying to convince him. "It'll be fun! And they say working out helps to relieve stress!"

Kilam chewed at his lip, his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "My doctor really says I shouldn't be near lots of people for long periods of time... he's already tried to convince my mom to homeschool me about fifty times -"

"Oh, screw your stuffy doctor!" Ryou announced, sticking her tongue out a little. "You're better now! You can handle this!"

Marik smiled softly as she saw Kilam simply stare at the insistent girl for a second. "You know," he said, amazed, "There's never been so many people that _believed_ in me, until I came here." He smiled warmly at her and added, "Of course, _you've_ always believed in me."

Ryou blushed a little and couldn't help but grin. Marik and Bakura both chuckled at the sight, feeling happy for them both. "Lovebirds~" Marik whispered under her breath.

"So," Kilam spoke up, looking over at Marik. "Where is the gym?"

"Just a few blocks that way," she pointed in front of her. "Do you have a ride?"

Kilam nodded. "I brought my motorcycle today -"

"Luckyyy!" Marik whined. Both Ryou and Bakura laughed while Kilam just looked amused. As far back as Bakura could remember, Marik had _always_ wanted a motorcycle. _Always_. He could recount her dragging him over to car lots to look at the two-wheeled machines with her and lament over the fact that her mean siblings said that as long as she was under their roof, there were to be no motorcycles.

"Wanna trade?" Marik offered, handing him her bike. Everyone laughed, and Marik felt mischievous again as she said, "Okay, so you can take Ryou on your bike!"

"What?!" Ryou interrupted, blushing.

Marik didn't let her talk for long. "It's called "Ed's Gym" with a big yellow sign – you can't miss it."

"Excuse me!" Ryou tried again, looking a little apprehensive now. "W_hat?!_"

"It takes about ten minutes for me to get there on my bike, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes for you -"

"_Marik!_" Ryou interrupted, looking properly flustered now, getting even more so when Kilam placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," he told her, obviously not understanding the entire situation as he said, "I have a helmet you can wear."

Marik and Bakura burst into laughter as Ryou blushed darker and mumbled, "Th-that's not why I..."

"So, see you two there!" Marik cut in before speeding away on her bike, gleefully ignoring her friend's anger-filled cries towards her. "It's just a little ride, Ryou," the mischievous Egyptian said to herself with more laughter. "You can handle it!"

And, as Marik continued to ride, Bakura couldn't _wait_ to talk to Kilam about all this tomorrow! He wondered if the usually emotionally stunted man would actually become embarrassed for the first time since he's seen him. _That_ could be a sight to see!

Bakura sighed, as content as Marik as she rode through the street on her bicycle, the wind in her hair and a grin on her face as she still laughed occasionally from the situations he had put her best friend in to. "I'm sure she'll thank me for it later," she said to herself.

* * *

Well, looks like Marik had been horribly wrong.

"_I'm going to kill you!_" Ryou yelled as soon as Marik had placed her bike in the bike rack. The poor bikerider barely had three seconds before her friend tackled her to the ground and started pulling at her hair.

"Owww!" Marik complained, much to Bakura's amusement. Payback for all the times Marik would pull _his_ hair! "Why are you mad at me?! I did you a favor!"

"Oh you did not!" Ryou yelled at her before forcing Marik to stand upright and receive the full blunt of her cold glare. "You just wanted to torture me, meany!"

Marik rolled her eyes and said, "How is riding a motorcycle with the object of your affections considered mean?"

Ryou seemed stumped by that for a minute as she faltered, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stumbled for words. Marik grinned at that and Bakura chuckled slightly right before she finally said, "Because, just, don't-don't force me into things I'm not ready for yet!-!"

Matthew snickered and started walking past her. "Just think of it as one, nice, _long_ hug~"

"Yeah, where _I'm_ the one hugging!"

"All the better," Marik teased, turning around and winking at her. And then quickly running inside the gym, laughing all the way as Ryou chased after her. Bakura joined Marik in laughter, though he also wondered why friends always teased each other about crushes. Was the basic need to torment your friends about the person you liked ingrained into everyone's psyche or something? Though he had to grudgingly admit that Ryou had started it with tormenting Marik about _Jake_ all the time...

Anyway, the two quickly stopped running once they got into the actual building, finding Kilam waiting inside and smiling. He had probably seen them outside, since he looked highly amused at both of them. "Glad you made it, Marik," he said calmly. "Ryou kept saying how she couldn't wait to hug you."

Marik laughed as Ryou came up beside her, still glaring slightly. "Were those her exact words?"

"Well, she said "get her hands on you" but I just assumed -"

"Let's get working out!" Ryou interrupted, giving a nervous laugh that Marik found hilarious. Bakura also couldn't help but laugh as the three of them went up to the front desk to check in. Since Marik had a membership, she was able to get a discount for her friends, which was very helpful and seemed to make Ryou forgive her for the previous torment. Either that or the white-haired girl realized that it actually _wasn't_ that bad of a thing she had done.

"Oh, and Ryou?" Marik whispered to her friend, smirking. "There's a one-room, unisex bathroom down that hall over there if you need some_ private time_ with your man~"

Ryou flushed darkly as Bakura laughed. "Wh-why would you – I'm not going to do that!"

"Just a suggestion!" Marik laughed before walking off to some sort of odd, weight-lifting machine that Bakura didn't recognize at all. Before starting to work it, however, she turned to see that Kilam was leading Ryou over to a different machine, the poor, pale girl looking horribly nervous now. Marik felt a bit of guilt at that, probably wondering if she had gone to far... Though the feeling was quickly squashed when she saw Kilam smiling at her, saying something that caused Ryou to laugh. "He's perfect for her," Marik muttered to herself before going back to the previous machine. "I wonder," she continued, swallowing a little and feeling nervous butterflies in her stomach. "If Jake's perfect for me?"

. . . There are no words on Earth to describe how much Bakura wanted to scream and shout and just _yell_ at that very moment.

Marik was already thinking about this?! She had only talked to him, from what he saw, for not even two days! Were all girls like this? Didn't she need to get to know him a bit more before thinking about this?! Because if she got to know him better, then she'd realize what a low-life he is!

Needless to say, Bakura was in a very sour mood throughout the entire time Marik was working out. Especially when she oh-so-casually mentioned how much cooler she felt with her hair up, since, apparently, usually she was always so "sweaty and gross" after "pumping iron." Though, even through his sour mood, he had to admit that it felt... weird. Working out through someone's body. He felt just as exhausted as Marik, even though _he_, physically, had not done the workout. Only his mind had, along with feeling how she herself felt while lifting such heavy weights – and heavy they were. The lowest she lifted on just plain dumbbells was thirty! Bakura wasn't even sure how much he could lift. It probably wasn't much since he didn't really use his strength all that often...

Anyway, when Marik was done, she went off to find her friends, though she was mainly just scanning the floor. "White hair, white hair..." she mumbled, causing Bakura to laugh again. He had to admit, her habit of talking to herself... it was starting to grow on him. It was... cute. Funny and cute.

"Ah, there she is!" Marik announced, spotting Ryou and Kilam over on the other end of the gym. She started walking over, but when she was still a few yards away, Ryou turned to see her and grinned ear to ear.

"Marik!" the peppy girl called, running over to her and jumping over everything in her path as graceful as a ballerina, or a cheerleader. The sight made Marik smile a little, and laugh when the girl jumped one last time to land right in front of her.

"What caused the prima ballerina to move so fast?" Marik teased, making Bakura laugh. Where did she get all of these lines from?

"I just wanted to thank you!" Ryou cut in, obviously not caring about her sarcasm at the moment. "This has been a wonderful day! Even if I found out that I can't even lift twelve pounds over my head..."

Marik laughed at that, but she wasn't able to say anything as Ryou continued, "_But_," she blushed a little, "I was able to talk with Kilam a lot because of this, and I do kind of feel accomplished after that motorcycle ride -"

"See?" Marik grinned. "Not cruel."

"Shut up!" Ryou pushed at her playfully, a smile breaking out on her face anyway. "Just accept my thank you, and my apology, okay!?"

"I didn't hear an apology."

"Marik!"

"All right, all right." Marik chuckled and started walking back over to Kilam, who had already started walking towards _them_. "I accept them both~"

Ryou smiled at Marik and gave her a hug as they continued to walk, meeting up with Kilam halfway before heading out of the building.

"So, Kilam," Marik started, looking at him with a sly smile. "How much can you lift?"

He didn't have time to answer as Ryou interrupted with, "Like, two hundred pounds!"

Kilam chuckled a little and corrected, "Actually, it's only one-fifty."

"_Only?!_" both Marik and Bakura asked. _Geez, don't be modest!_ he couldn't help but think. That was impressive! And slightly jealous-inducing... from Marik as well, he sensed.

"I bet he could lift you no problem," Marik commented to Ryou, who seemed flustered at that.

"Probably," Kilam put in, looking the pale girl up and down before nodding decisively. "She looks easy to bench."

A few seconds of silence rang out before Marik burst into laughter, Bakura soon joining her and telling himself he had to have a nice chat with his friend later. Especially when he saw how confused Kilam seemed.

"Did I do something funny...?" he asked.

"I-it's nothing," Ryou tried to tell him, blushing furiously and avoiding eye contact between anyone. Bakura guessed she couldn't have been happier once they made it outside. "Well – it, it was nice spending time with you, Kilam!" she said as she turned to smile at him, which looked kind of hard with Marik still snickering. Though, it wasn't like Bakura was any better, since he was actually able to laugh freely from the safety of Marik's mind. And, well, emotions, too, it seemed, as he still felt her own hyper laughter predominating his own feelings.

"I enjoyed today, too," Kilam told her, smiling a bit. "Should I give you a ride home?"

"No, that's all right." Ryou waved her hand dismissively, though still looked very pleased. "I was going to go to the store on my way home!"

"Oh, okay." They just stood there looking at each other, as awkward as can be for a few minutes, not saying anything... Marik groaned to herself at the sight, and Bakura laughed. Perhaps Marik _was_ right about one thing – these two were perfect for each other.

"Well," Kilam was the one to break the silence. "See you around, then..." Before anyone knew what was happening, the slightly taller boy had bent down a little and gave Ryou a brief, soft kiss, successfully shocking her and causing her to blush yet again. Marik couldn't stop giggling happily to herself, and Bakura had to grin at that – W_ay to go, buddy!_

"Maybe we can do this again sometime," Kilam added, almost as an afterthought before turning and walking back to his motorcycle, effectively leaving Ryou in a sort of daze. As well as making Bakura roll his eyes. _Geez, could you have _been_ any smoother?_

Only after Kilam had driven off did Ryou say anything: "Dreaming."

"... What?" Marik asked, still laughing a bit.

"I must be dreaming!" Ryou reiterated, her face melting in an absolute _dreamy_ look as she sighed. "For that to have happened...! EEK!" She turned to Marik, excited now. "My first kiss! I can't believe it!"

"Congratulations," Marik told her, happy for her friend as she clapped her on the back.

Ryou held a hand up to her lips and grinned a little. "Oh, I wish it could have been longer, though..."

"Hey," Marik grinned and nudged her, "you had your chance with that bathroom~"

"Shut up!" Ryou blushed, laughed, and pushed her again. "Besides," she smirked before teasing, "soon, you'll be having _your_ first kiss~"

And, just like that, any happiness Marik had felt was instantly converted into sadness and pain... Bakura joining her, but with a hefty amount of guilt thrown in as well – can't have a party without guilt! Right?!

"... I," Marik started to say, swallowing and finishing quietly, "I already _had_ my first kiss, Ryou..."

"Really?" The other girl seemed surprised, but obviously curious and ever-excited as she asked, "From who?! Spill it!"

"You should _know_ who," Marik was quick to snap, her good mood plummeting even further as she turned to stomp over to her bike, not listening to anything Ryou had to say. Especially any sort of apology she could have. She felt like crying again... just like that. _Just after that one thought_.

Bakura wished he could crawl into a hole for a few hours and just sit there... Away from all of these horrible emotions, away from all the guilt. He wished he could take it all back – all of those _stupid_, mean years. He wished they could start over... forget all of that nonsense, and move on, together.

But they couldn't.

Just at the mere _thought_ of him made her react like this... Such a happy thing, their first kiss, had been turned so bitter, simply by what _he_ had done, what _he_ had said.

By what he had _become._

All of those good memories, all the laughs they had shared... it would almost be better if they had never existed in the first place, rather than warped into such bitter memories that just ached and hurt whenever you thought of them. Bitter memories that could destroy you and leave you a sobbing, sorrowful mess if you dwelled on them too long.

But they hadn't always been that way, no – before, they were memories that would always make you smile, even on the worst of days. Memories that you would want to go back to often, because they were so simple and made you feel so loved... Memories that other people would be jealous of, and want for themselves. Memories that mean-spirited people would do anything to take away – do anything to _turn_ them into that bitter feeling. People like TV... And anything like telling you those memories were wrong, and that you shouldn't have such memories with someone so much younger than you.

Though, in the end, only the holder of the memories could allow them to turn bitter.

And Bakura had definitely screwed up in that regard.

* * *

By the time Marik had returned home, she was calm enough to appear in front of her family without drawing too much suspicion to herself. Though, before she went into the house, she took her hair out of its ponytail and put the band around her wrist. "I'm sick of you pulling my hair out..." she told the inanimate object unbearably.

Bakura didn't even feel up to _smiling_ at such silly antics anymore, though... No matter how humorous they were. And boy, even with how drained he felt he _knew_ that was funny.

The rest of Marik's evening carried on in much the same way the previous one did, though this time she wasn't attacked at the door by Odion. In fact, it was soon discovered that he had been called back to work, causing some slight disappointment that Marik immediately shrugged off.

She worked on her homework in relative silence, eating dinner with Isis right after and making small talk. Right after that, however, she took a shower and just hopped right into bed for a _very_ early bedtime. No singing, no drawing, no relaxing, no reading... just sleep.

The main difference from yesterday, however, was that all throughout these activities... there was a heavy, sad lump in her throat and stomach that just wouldn't go away. Wouldn't stop reminding her of the past, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. Occasionally, it _would_ disappear, but it soon came back – with a vengeance. Bakura could feel it, too, along with his own pit of regret.

There was no "Good night Marmikins" tonight.

* * *

**Yeah... That seemed like a good ending, don't you think? ;)**

**Again, I'm _really_ sorry this took so long... I've had a rough year OTL That's all I'll say about it. But, I figured I'd put another chapter up before heading off to Disney World for a week :3 IT'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!**

**Review if you want, though it would make me extremely happy if you did ^^ **

**~~~{REVIEW REPLIES}~~~**

**bloody cupcake**: Haha, sorry XD And yes, this _is_ Bittersweet Candy Bowl~ (JK XD) but anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed my writing ^^

**ThiefshippingFTW**: Aw! Thank you =) I'm glad you love them! I try my best ^^ And, eheh, yeah, I did update quickly last chapter... this one, not so much OTL Again, my apologies... But I thank you for your review and hope you enjoyed this one, too :)

**DarkEvee**:Really! You started crying? :D That means I'm doing my job~ XD Haha! Thank you so much – I'm glad you enjoyed it ^^

**AifasInTheSky**: You're welcome ^^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too, even with the wait ^^"  
XD You know, killing Jake with a math book _would_ be funny since he sucks at math! XD And yeah, TV's a jerk, too, because high school really is mean **shakes head**. As for Kura and Marik getting back together, well... ;)  
(I'm used to calling Ryou a girl now XD) Well, Ryou _is_ an occult girl~ And you'll find out what made Kilam change his perspective soon enough!  
Thank you for reviewing ^^ I love your reviews~  
PS: Yeah, the ghost is who you think it is XD  
PS2: Really? :') Then that means I'm doing my job! ^^ I'm pleased to make you cry~ XD

**MadRayTer**: Nope! Sorry XD The only one going into anyone's body is Bakura into Marik's! (And no, not like that, get your mind out of the gutter XP XD). Though that would be creepy if Marik went into his body... **shivers**.  
And your poll has been recorded! ^^ Thanks :)  
I'm sorry I didn't update it before your school dance, though... I hope you got some romance anyhow!

**ChaosWolf**: Eep! **Blushes** Thank you so much! ^^ I'm glad you like the story and think I'm a good writer :3 It makes me very happy! Heehee, and I'm glad Bakura and his mom were good enough to move you to tears~ ^^  
I will definitely keep writing this story! It just depends on when I get the chance to ^^"  
Thank you very much for the review! :)

**Just a freak**: Thank you very much! And yeah, I'm still writing... eheh ^^" I'm glad you like it :)

**tessa**: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like them all :)  
Yes, I agree with you – regret is not an emotion that gets centered around very often, despite how strong and solid it is. It can absorb you... As it is doing Bakura right now.  
I too am pleased with their flip flop relationship, heehee, and thank you! I try to make OCs as realistic as possible.  
Yay! Critiques! :D  
I've read many stories where people put apostrophes instead of quotation marks around song titles and emphasis, however, I've also read a lot of books where they did use quotation marks, and, to me at least, they look better ^^" If I read something with apostrophes surrounding it, I sometimes skip over and don't notice them, so... I'll probably keep using quotation marks.  
Yeah ^^" But the thing is, this _is_ an AU, which means the characters will have been put through different trials and tribulations than the original storyline. Because they didn't go through the same things, they are not going to be exactly the same – it's a balancing act, kind of. Trying to mix the character's basic personality with these new situations and experiences and turning it into something realistic and intriguing. Though I agree with you that I make Marik yell "pervert" too much – I'll try to tone that down. She mainly did that earlier because she was younger, to be honest.  
As for the abridged series... I really wish I had told myself to stay away from it in my writing when I first started out, because now it annoys me so much when I read how I tried to mold the two personalities together. Ugh, what was I thinking?! But anyway, I thank you for the advice.  
I'm glad you like my Bakura ^^ I seem able to write his personality pretty well. Not the best, I know, but... it's enough to _be_ Bakura, and not the Thief King, like you say.  
Oh no, it didn't seem that negative to me! I thank you for your critiques and help ^^ I am glad you love the story as well, despite it's faults, and hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!  
… And, wow, favorite YGO author...? That... that means so much to me, thank you... **hugs**. I've always tried to make relationship developments, and I love making smooth transitions! (It bothers me when I read a story without smooth ones XP).  
I am always very happy when other people enjoy my writing ^^ It's what makes it all worthwhile, you know? I mean, it's great to write for yourself, but it's also incredible to share it with other people and see what they think. And, who knows, some random story could help someone... somehow, in some way.  
I'm rambling now, but I really do thank you for the review – it helped a lot :)

**Guest**: Er, uh... I didn't update soon, but I hoped you enjoyed this chapter like the previous ones! :)


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